What To Do When You Are Dead
by That-Gex-Dude
Summary: A horrible incident occurs and Gumball is blamed for it. He ends his life after thinking everyone doesn't forgive him. Gumball regrets this but is helped by a friend and on the..-zzzztt! On hiatus status!
1. One Last Regret

What To Do When You Are Dead

_A.N.- Hello all, this is a side story I decided to make along with my first fanfic, "The Confusion". I wanna do more stories, while cutting down some time, so this will already be my second fanfic here. Basically, I love the show, but I also love the album titled "What To Do When You Are Dead" by a fairly underrated band "Armor For sleep". Then the two combined and this story was stuck in my head for a long time. This is sort of a pretty depressing story, but if that's not your game, don't read it. Otherwise, enjoy this first chapter. All the Chapters correspond to one of the songs in the album, and I will do everything in order. By the way, this is not going to be a typical TAWOG episode. And please review my first sad story! Enjoy._

_Disclaimer : I do not own The Amazing World Of Gumball. The Amazing World Of Gumball Belongs to Cartoon Network._

_All the songs from the album belong to Armor For Sleep and Equal Vision Records._

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 - One Last Regret<strong>

This was probably the worst day to ever celebrate the ever-so comical day of "April Fools". Pranks would go haywire and everyone would at least get some fun and joy. Today was not the case. Gumball Watterson, a blue cat student had overdone a prank he did. He had set up a small solution, designed to only make a loud noise to scare the user, but the result was that a section of the school had exploded, and a fire ate up the rest of the building. Students and Staff were injured. The Wattersons were all sitting and discussing the matter with the school principle, Mr. Brown, in their own home, since his office was destroyed. The parents, Richard and Nicole were very depressed about one of their kids. Actually, everyone was. Mr. Brown started with a heavy cough as he sat down.

"Mr. and Mrs. Watterson, I am afraid your son, Gumball Christopher Watterson has done something unacceptable. We do know that today is April 1. A time to let out a series of pranks. However, I am disappointed to say that your son has taken this too far. And to make things worse, 164 of our students and 14 staff members are at the hospital, 5 of them at critical conditions. I also have information from the hospital staff that your son has also proven to be a bad influence to his younger siblings." Darwin and Anais sat as far away from Gumball, they had patches of gauze taped to massive wounds on their face. They had burn marks that had to be treated with cold pressure. Mr. Brown continued his speech.

"The school will not accept this as its responsibility. I'm sorry, but your son will be removed from this school." Nicole cried as Richard looked angrily at Gumball. "There is no hope for him." He added with pain. He got up and left the house, as the family was left to discuss this on their own. Nicole could not help it, but she had to brutalize Gumball for all this. This was something that was completely unacceptable. She got up, picked up Gumball and threw him to a wall. She grabbed him by his neck as she shouted forcefully at him.

"GUMBALL! WHY DID YOU DO THAT! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU! YOU JUST CAUSED CHAOS AND INJURY TO A SCHOOL! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" she roared with rage. Gumball whimpered and cried as his mother was against him. Gumball tried to explain with his windpipe closed up.

"Mom, please… I didn't mean that to happen! Please listen to me!" Nicole released him and smacked him 4 times on the face. Nicole then grabbed Gumball by his arms, and gave him a punch to the face. Gumball cried hard. Richard looked at the scene from the stairs and told Gumball something that was unlikely to be heard by him.

"This is not funny anymore son. Not. Funny." He then got up the stairs and went to his bedroom, slamming the door shut. Darwin and Anais marched to their room, not making any contact with Gumball. Nicole looked at all of them and finally had let Gumball go. She took deep breaths before adding something that had cracked Gumball hard.

"Sometimes Gumball, I'd say that you were a mistake. You are not my son." Hissed Gumball's mom, as she followed the path to her room. She too had slammed the door shut, but it was much louder. Gumball slowly got up and headed up the stairs to his room. He turned the knob of the door, but it was locked. The door opened up, revealing an injured Darwin.

"You are not sleeping here Gumball." He said angrily. Gumball tried to push the door away, but the pain that his mom gave him made him too weak.

"Where am I supposed to sleep?" he cried pathetically.

"Go sleep in the garden, you asshole." Darwin said sternly. Gumball tried to consult him, but Darwin was just too hurt and angry from him.

"Fuck you." He added before kicking him and slamming the door. Gumball cried hard as he pleaded them to forgive him. Gumball was even more hurt that the only person to have cursed at him was his own brother. Gumball wept loud, until his mom shouted back

"SHUT THE FUCK UP GUMBALL, AND SLEEP OUTSIDE! NOW!" she screamed. Never before has his mom cursed at him. It made him even weaker. Double damage was done, as his two most loved family members have just dropped the f-bomb on him. He ran to the door leading to the garden and he heard the door lock from inside. The lights inside quickly turned off and he was left alone to cry in the cold dark outdoors. He cried harder, until he had fallen asleep.

The cat woke up, as the sun appeared up in the sky. His pain was still agonizing from yesterday. He looked at the door leading to the kitchen, but he didn't bother as he knew he was still not allowed inside. Or so he thinks, as he heard the door open up. He looked back to see his mother, who didn't make eye contact.

"Go get you breakfast. And eat down at the basement." She said monotonically.

Gumball didn't bother to eat. He was too depressed. Gumball was at the basement, armed with a pencil and loads of paper and a bag full of envelopes. He also had a razor right next to his pencil. As Gumball wrote a message to everyone he knew, he cut a part of his arms and dribble blood all over the page. He stared up at the ceiling wincing in pain. He spent hours writing everything until he finally finished the pack. But he had reserved the next 4 pieces of paper and envelope aside. He wrapped his bleeding arms with bandage as the 4 notes to be written were meant to be clean. These sets are for his family. He cried and sniffed and trembled, writing down the last things ever to his family, regretful of him. As he was done, he took out one specific letter and got out the basement, and out the front door. He waited for a dew minutes until the mailman arrived. He slowly walked to him and gave him a tattered letter.

"Please give this to Penny. I know you know her. This is only for her." He whispered miserably.

"Kid, what's wrong?" asked the mailman, noticing the kid's new personality.

"Me. I'm wrong." He replied dimly before getting back inside his house and back into the basement. The Mailman looked at the letter, and proceeded to drive off to his next destination. In the basement, Gumball tied up the bag and hid it near a corner. He took a written label and stuck it on the bag. It read;

"_Give these letters to my friends accordingly."_

Gumball was finally complete. There was only one thing to do now.

Take his life away.

_**At Penny's House**_

Penny had opened the front door to her house. The mailman who had earlier had an encounter with a brutally depressed cat had a letter for her. He had a very distinct cheerless face on him. Penny wondered why and she grabbed the letter and looked at the mailman.

"Mrs. Penny, this mail is for you. Gumball wanted this to be only for you." He said sadly as he quickly turned round wand walked away. Penny wanted to question him but she ignored it and went back in. Penny knew that her father would never forgive Gumball, after his disastrous prank had critically injured Penny's little brother. Penny ran to her bedroom and locked it, to make sure her father would see her reading this. She looked at the front of the letter. It read;

_To my friend Penny. _

_My farewell to you._

_Gumball Watterson._

Penny opened the letter hesitatingly and began to read the contents. Before she read anything, she noticed the condition of the paper. It was wrinkled and it had what looked like spots of red blobs. Her heart pumped as he began to read it.

_I've let you down  
>Dragged you around<br>Wasted my money on messing my head up  
>I've watched you try<br>To figure me out  
>Take me back 'cause you're lonely<br>Save me  
>Even though we both know that you can't<br>Won't you save me  
>I'm gonna die tonight<br>I swear to god I'm gonna die  
>Can you save me?<br>Even though we both know that you can't  
>Won't you save me<br>I'm gonna die tonight  
>I swear to god I'm gonna die<em>

Penny quickly dropped the letter; she knew what was going on. She was the only one to stop it. Gumball was going to commit suicide. And he was going to do it tonight, very soon. She quickly ran to her dad, watching TV.

"Dad, please drive me!" she yelled with dread. Her father turned down the volume as he was confused by his daughter.

"What? Penny what's wrong? What? Where?" he quickly responded.

"Dad, drive me to the Wattersons, I have to stop Gumball!" As he heard the name, her father turned the volume back on and sat back. Penney kneeled to him as she tried to persuade him again. This time her father replied strictly.

"Penny. No." Penny tried again, this time; tears were running down her cheek rapidly.

"Dad Please!" She was extremely desperate. Time was running out, and Gumball could be already dead.

"No. Gumball is a kid who is gonna mess you up." He said back.

"Dad, listen to me! Gumball sent me a letter, a FAREWELL letter! He's gonna kill himself please!"

"He's messing with you. This could be another prank!"

"DAD! LISTEN TO ME!" Penny's father ignored her and walked away to his bedroom, Penny followed him, desperately trying to persuade him. Her father pushed her away and shut the door and locked it. All Penny could do was cry. It was up to her now. She got on her bike and rode to the Wattersons with rapidity. Before it was too late.

Gumball woke up from his slumber down at the basement. He looked at his watch. 6:00 pm. The time he heard his mom say. The rest of the family had taken a walk outside. It was time. Gumball got up and removed the bandages from his arms, revealing very deep scars. He walked up the stairs into his parent's bedroom. He snatched the car keys silently from the bedroom, taking care not to mess around with things. He tried hard to not cry. This would be the last time he would see the room. He walked outside, and looked at the room for one last time, and had shut the door. He then went to his bedroom, where his siblings slept. He left the two letters respectively on the bunker beds as he cried on the floor. He wiped his tears and got out the room. He got out the house, turning off all the lights on the way. He got into the car and opened the garage door. He sat for a while in the car seat, speaking to himself. This was the last night he'd ever spend. And he was alone too.

"I'm stupid… I'm worthless… I'll be better off dead… I'm sorry everyone… sorry… Forget about me. Forget me. I'm nothing for you all. Goodbye, and never remember the stupid person that I am."

Without any other thoughts, Gumball clenched the steering wheel and turned on the engine. Remembering the simple actions for driving a car, he accelerated till the car was outside. He quickly closed the garage door and drove out the highway at massive speed, headed for a part of the road which was under construction. A patrolling squad car saw this and began a chase to the car turning on the sirens. Gumball heard the sirens but he didn't care. He then swerved to the right, driving off-road, causing some frustration to the police chasing him. Gumball then saw the cliff-face, where it would lead to the ocean floor. He headed closer and closer to the cliff-face. The cops desperately tried to overtake them to stop the driver from falling off. But Gumball drove faster.

"I'm sorry." He said lowly. He had the picture of the family pasted on the mirror. His own image was cut off the photograph. Gumball then sat back as he removed his hands from the steering wheel, while the accelerator was still stepped on. As each time went by, he held the photograph and held each of the faces in the picture with his thumb. His thumb focused on his mom.

"Mom. I'm sorry for being a bad burden on you. I am not your son. You'll be free." Gumball's thumb went over to his dad's face.

"Dad. I was probably the one to make you feel uncared for. I never treated you with respect. Everyone will respect you." His thumb went to his adopted brother.

"Darwin. I was never a good brother to you. I sometimes hurt you. Now you will be treated well." As the edge became more clear, Gumball quickly put his thumb on Anais.

"Anais. I was a bad influence to you. I never really was a good big brother to you. Now everyone will look after you." He then let go of the photo and had removed his foot from the accelerator pedal. The world seemed to be in slow-motion. Every second was now a minute.

"Goodbye world. May God forgive my soul." He said for the last time. The car flew off the cliff-face as the cops behind him quickly stopped the car.

"Oh shit…" said one of them silently. His partner got out the vehicle and lately responded.

"Fuck, we are so dead."

They watched the car fall 30 feet into the deep waters below…

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><p><em>A.N. - What do you all think? Also, I need a little advice, would this type of story be a teen rating or a mature rating? Anyways, expect a new chapter of this story and my other story "The Confusion" within 2 days. And again, please review! I know I'm not perfect, so show me if I am or not.<em>


	2. Car Underwater

What To Do When You Are Dead

_A.N. – Hi all. Here's the next chapter. I apologize for the delay. I was meant to post this yesterday along with the 4th chapter for "The Confusion" however, yesterday was a weird day. Our area suffered from a brown-out (all electricity turns off due to problems) while I was writing stuff for "The Confusion". So I waited till the power was back on, then my file for the new chapter disappeared, but sad thing is, Microsoft Word 2007 did not manage to salvage the file so I gotta re-write it over again. Luckily for this chapter, I managed to save it just before the power-shortage. So here it is. I also appreciate all your reviews, so please, read on and comment!_

_Disclaimer : I do not own The Amazing World Of Gumball. The Amazing World Of Gumball Belongs to Cartoon Network._

_All the songs from the album belong to Armor For Sleep and Equal Vision Records._

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 – Car Underwater<strong>

Meanwhile, back at the Watterson house, Nicole and the rest of the family had returned. They walked in the park and even ate out at a local steakhouse. But they actually planned forgiveness for Gumball. All the family members were pretty shocked and heart-broken, seeing the young blue cat been depressed for so long. Darwin was the one to be the most hurt about what he had just said and done to Gumball. Nicole also seemed regretful of cursing at her own son as well as over beating him.

"Mom, should we forgive Gumball now? We've been treating him a little too harsh on him…I also wanna say I'm sorry; I kind of flipped off at him too much. I didn't mean it." said Darwin with a very regretful accent. Nicole rose up a plastic bag she carried with a take-out meal inside.

"Why do you think I took out an extra order? It's for him. He's still my son and your big brother. I also want to say sorry to him. I cursed at him too. I went too overbroad on him."

"I still felt bad when you beat him up. I didn't want that to happen to him. I know what he did to the school and the people, but I don't know. I don't think Gumball really planned that." Anais added who felt hurt inside. In truth, Anais quickly ran to her bedroom when her mom began the pummeling on Gumball. She cried hard, knowing that she wouldn't stop. Nicole gave out a sigh. She remembered the session and looked at her hands; the very ones to deal the pain on him.

"Honey, it was just to teach him. We just can't let him go after what he did. The school's gone and a lot of people are at the hospital. But I do want to hear about Gumball's explanation. This is some bizarre accident."

"Anyways, let's go back and forgive him. He's been so depressed; I think it's time to end it." Nicole said with anxiety. They finally arrived at the house but Anais felt something was wrong. As they got back in, they noticed that all the lights were out. They simply turned it all on without hesitation, thinking that Gumball had done this. The father of the family headed for the garage. Richard noticed the garage was empty. The car was gone, yet the garage door was closed.

"Honey?" he shouted as he ran to his wife.

"What's wrong?" she replied.

"The car, it's gone!" Nicole looked at him with fear. Next thing was Darwin came to them panicking.

"Mom, Gumball's not at the basement!" he cried. "He's not at the bedroom or at the garden! I've looked everywhere now!"

"What?" she shrieked. "Okay relax, he must have just taken a walk outside. Richard, go look for Gumball outside!" With that, the rabbit immediately followed orders and went out. Anais came out the basement, who was sobbing. Nicole quickly hugged her daughter, trying to calm her down.

"Okay, look honey, what's wrong now?"

"Mom-mom, look-do-down there!" cried Anais as she choked through sobs. As the three walked down to the basement, turning on the lights, they found out the secret that Gumball had been hiding. The walls were scratched. There were patches of red on the floor but most notably, there was a large black bag on the corner of the basement. They watched in shock as they broke down.

Was he dreaming? Is everything real? Is everything going to be back to normal once he was gone? Thoughts keep recurring in his mind. The car was still in mid-air, only a few feet from the depths below. As his time on Earth was ticking away, memories and flashbacks of good times rolled in his head. Memories of friends he had been really close with, and the family he had been attached to. All of the flashbacks ended, when the car finally hit the water. Gumball took a deep breath from before, and had now held it tightly, waiting for time to finish him off. As he closed his eyes, his one true love suddenly appeared.

"Gumball…don't do this…no one is really mad at you…please…this is a mistake…please…please…" echoed the voice. Gumball didn't speak. He knew this was all a part of his mind regretting this. Then out of nowhere a colorful blob appeared, revealing to be Tobias.

"Gumball…this is not your fault… someone set you up… nothing was your fault…" He ignored him, still strongly believing that he was the cause of the explosion. Then the pain came even more inflicting when Darwin appeared.

"Gumball…bro…please…don't do this…I know you're sorry…but we're sorry too…" He couldn't help but let his heart break. He forced himself not to look back. Then Gumball could feel it. His life was depleting faster and faster. His dream had suddenly gone at fast-forwards. Everything was going so fast, that it was now a blur. Time was running out. He couldn't breath. Then an image flashed into his mind. A white ghost he had knew in school sparked.

"Carrie?"

Before he could even see her for a split second…he faded away…It was finally over…

Penny had finally reached the Watterson house, parking her bike next to the building. Just as she was about to go knock, Richard had met up with her. Panting and looking worried.

"Penny?" he asked. Penny looked back at him. "Penny, have you seen Gumball?"

"No. I came here to stop him from doing something" she replied. Before the two could speak again, they heard a very loud cry from inside the house. Richard carefully opened the door, and he looked at 3 bodies, on the ground and crying hard. Nicole looked at him with teary eyes, handing him the phone. Richard grabbed it tightly, prepared for what was to be said.

"Hello? Is this Mr. Watterson?"

"Yes. What's wrong?"

"Mr. Watterson, we have found your car underwater near a cliff, it had fallen over, next to the corner of Elmore highway. But that's not the only thing we found. We have found your son. He's…gone sir…" Richard simply dropped the phone and collapsed to the floor, breaking down. Penny was already in tears; she quickly grabbed the phone and tried what she can to find out if Gumball was really dead.

"Hello? Please tell me that Gumball is okay! Please! Tell the truth!" she insisted. The donut cop on the other line simply shook his head, looking at the paramedics taking Gumball's body away.

"Mam? I'm sorry, but Gumball Watterson had drowned to death. Please mam, this is the truth. I'm very sorry. There's nothing we can do now." With that, Penny broke down and cried on the floor, along with the Elmorians. As they cried, Penny's dad arrived, who had just realized that his daughter had rushed here. Before he could shout angrily at his daughter, he saw Richard and Nicole and their kids, and his own daughter weeping uncontrollably on the ground. Penny's father walked slowly to Penny who just scooted away from him.

"Stay away from me! If you just agreed to help me, I wouldn't be too late!" She murmured the same phrase over and over again.

"I'm too late…I'm too late…I'm too late…"

Gumball opened up his eyes. He quickly closed it again, since all he saw was a bright blaze. He slowly opened up his eyes. He stood up and glanced around. Where was he? Gumball was on what looks like the cliff where he had just fallen off. Did he eject in time before he fell down the car? But he turned his head to see paramedics and police crowded near the cliff-face. He jumped up and down to them, hoping to get noticed.

"Hey everyone! I'm okay! I'm over here!" he shouted. No one heard him. He walked closer to them, shouting louder to them. "Everyone, I got out before I fell! I'm here! I'm alive!" No response. Gumball then got closer to the paramedics, and on the stretcher…was him. Exactly how Gumball was, before his fate. Gumball couldn't believe it. He looked at his hands, which he just noticed. His hands were pure white. He looked down and he didn't see legs. He couldn't believe it. He was really dead. But he remembered that he wanted this and he had to accept it. Slowly, Gumball floated away, not taking a gaze back at the site of where he had just destroyed his existence. He finally had fulfilled his assignment. The question left in his head was "Where to go?"

_**At Carrie's residence**_

Carrie, the local ghost girl of Elmore, suddenly woke up from her slumber on a torn bed, rested on top of some rusted metal mesh. She had a very odd dream, so unusual that it had her panting. She tried to shake it off but couldn't sleep again. She floated and paced back and forth until her mom noticed this, who had just walked in.

"What's the problem my dear?" inquired her mom as she floated next to her.

"Mom, I dreamt something… It's not normal… this is the first time I've ever gotten this type of dream…" Carrie replied, looking out her shattered windows.

"Well what is it?"

"Gumball, that cat that had burned down the school, is dead. But then before I woke up, he told me to help him. He is not at peace." Carrie's mother floated to the window and waited a while, before turning her head and telling her a statement.

"Honey, it's time you did your job." Carrie looked at her mother with confusion.

"What?"

"These things happen a lot back then. Sometimes, these deaths are unnecessary. The ones who died this way will no longer be at peace. Their souls will linger with no end. It was our job to help them get closure and rest in peace before. We haven't got any case of this until now. Carrie, this is why we are here. This is why we exist as ghosts. Wait till tomorrow. You will find Gumball. Help him." Carrie still was confused, so confused to the point where she got irritated.

"But how? I don't get this." Before she could talk back, her father came in, who had all this time heard their talk. He simply opened the door and held it, showing a gesture to his dumbfounded daughter.

"Come dear, I will explain everything to you." Carrie simply followed his order, and the two went into their library, where Carrie would finally make sense of it all. After the session was done, Carrie still had one more question in mind that would prove to her that she really had to do this.

"Is Gumball really dead, dad?"

"Only time shall tell. We shall wait for tomorrow." With that, Carrie's parents left her alone in the library, leaving her with so many open questions left unanswered.

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><p><em>A.N. – Good? Bad? Bleh? Please review it. And just for a heads up, there will be 11 more chapters to this. (o_0) It's kinda like a movie-esque story, so I'll try to limit my word lengths to maybe 2000+ word or whatever. Anyways, wait up for the next installment. A new chapter for Confusion will be posted soon, FAIL-PROOF. I promise, I will spend my time to finish is just for you guys. Coz I like you all a lot. Don't take that too serious though...<em>


	3. The Truth About Heaven

What To Do When You Are Dead

_A.N. – Yes, long wait, but that was because of some stupid sickness-hubub. Anyways, here's the next chapter to WTDWYAD! Read and Review plox! :p _

_Disclaimer : I do not own The Amazing World Of Gumball. The Amazing World Of Gumball Belongs to Cartoon Network._

_All the songs from the album belong to Armor For Sleep and Equal Vision Records._

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 – The Truth About Heaven<strong>

The Wattersons had driven to the hospital. They had used Penny's dad's car to travel, with none of the passengers speaking. They arrived as they made their way in the building. Before Penny's father got in, Penny pushed him away.

"Dad. Don't go in. I don't want you to go in." she said sternly. Penny's dad tried to confront her, only to have the hospital doors close on him. He got back to his car as he leaned in turmoil. His daughter's warnings were true. Nicole was constantly being supported to stand and walk by her husband and her adopted son. They made it to the receptionist.

"Excuse me mam, Gumball Christopher Watterson?" she cried as she choked through her sobs. They were interrupted by a dog dressed in a neat brown trench coat which had a badge that simply read "Chief Detective". He wore a heavy fedora and was carrying a briefcase.

"Mrs. Watterson? I'm detective Hunter. Follow me." The Wattersons and Penny slowly followed the dog who led them to a morgue room that was lit in a dim green light. He waited at the doors as he gave a knock. As the doors flew open, they met with a group of bandage nurses. One of them patted the mother as she whispered in her ear.

"I am sorry. I bet he was a great kid. Such a loss." With that, she walked off with her colleges. The man then tapped Nicole while she still stared at the nurses.

"Mrs. Watterson. If you are ready, you may enter." Nicole gave a nod as her family and Penny joined them. As they went in, the dog had shut the doors, all of them looking back. Then they looked in front of them. Right in her own eyes, Nicole saw a body covered in a clean white sheet. The room was lit in a bright white light; bright enough to cause pain in the eyes, but the pain Nicole felt inside was worse. As she walked to the body, the others looked in horror. They walked slowly behind her as Nicole prepared to remove the sheets. She slowly trembled. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably. She cried hard as she finally made contact with the sheet. She pressed on it, feeling a cold matter underneath. Slowly, she removed the sheet, revealing Gumball's ears. She choked trough one of her sobs as she continued. His shut eyes were in view, and by then, Nicole only managed to uncover her son's head and neck, before collapsing to the ground, wailing in unbearable inner agony. Richard kneeled down to comfort him. Richard did not want to look at Gumball's remains. Penny then got close to her once-living boyfriend as she continued to remove the sheets, stopping at the waist. She screamed and cried as she saw large scars on his arms and on his chest. Nicole weakly got up as she cried in disappear, seeing the scars that her son had dug in to punish himself for all the wrong reasons. Darwin quickly embraced his brother as he tried to talk trough pained snivels.

"Ple-please…not li-like thi-this…Gum-Gum-Gumba-ball…please…wake up! WAKE UP!" he wept loudly. Anais cried unstoppably as she was picked up and embraced by her weakened mother. Darwin was then gently pulled by Penny. Darwin quickly collapsed as he was embraced by his father, who was the only one not crying. Penny then stared at the deceased friend as she couldn't help but weep uncontrollably. She sobbed and embraced the departed cat hard as she spoke to his non responsive body.

"Gumball…why? Why did you go? It wasn't your fault Gumball…I wish I could've saved you in time…forgive me Gumball…I forgive you…we forgive you…why…why…why did you leave us? Why did you leave me? Why…no…" The detective outside clenched his chest hard as he felt everyone's pain inside. He looked at a piece of evidence in a plastic bag, found on the day the school incident happened. He clenched it hard as he looked up on the ceiling's dim lights.

"I will find you, you bastard. You framed an innocent kid and you led him to this. You will be caught someday and you will be punished." He said to himself, as he looked at the picture concealed in the plastic bag. He walked off as he went trough a cold spot...

_**Tobias' House**_

Tobias had been calling the Watterson's house for about 5 times, only to have no one pick it up. He wanted to share some very important information to Gumball. His computer wasn't working so he only resorted to calling him. Tobias had been one of the minorities of people who weren't mad at Gumball for his apparent cause in accidentally bombing the school by a hideously gone wrong prank. Tobias had been working by himself, desperately trying to find a reason that Gumball didn't cause the incident. He tried one more time before the phone was picked up.

"Hey, can I speak to Gumball?" The other person on the phone then responded with an extremely spine shivering voice and comment.

"_I'm…Gumball…I'm…dead…"_ At that point, the voice was followed by, oddly enough, some static noises and then the other line had disconnected mysteriously. Tobias freaked out that he dropped the phone on the floor. His heart was pounding hard until he calmed down. He knew that Gumball might've been mocking him or it might be Darwin trying to scare him again, so he relaxed a bit. He was annoyed until he decided to go to Gumball's house personally. He quickly rushed to his sister, watching the television with no emotion.

"Hey Rachel, can you help me out?" she only yawned as a response as she brushed her multicolored hair. "Rachel, drive me to Gumball's house, I need to tell him something."

"Why should I? Haven't you noticed that he blew up the school?" she snapped back. Tobias only sighed in annoyance.

"Look it's not his fault and I have proof! I need to talk this over with Gumball! Please?" his sister only looked back at the TV. Tobias then grabbed his wallet, pulling out $50. Rachel turned off the TV as she grabbed the cash, quietly grabbing the car keys left on the table.

"Okay doofus, but make your visit quick. The cops might get me this time. " The two made it quickly to the car, careful to not wake their already asleep parents up.

Nicole was still sobbing in the car as Penny's dad drove them to a good funeral director. Richard and Darwin were out discussing their plans to the mortician for tomorrow. They wanted to start the funeral the next day. When they were done, they got back to the car. They left for the Watterson's house, dropping them when they arrived. Penny's dad only said goodbye, only to get no response. As the remaining Fitzgeralds sat silently in the car, heading for their house. Penny's dad was full of shock and regret from all the events that had gone by, while his daughter was filled with pain, anger and depression. He then spoke, trying to get some noise in the car.

"Honey, I'm-I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I thought you were lying…I didn't…"

"Don't talk dad. I'm not in the mood." Penny snapped back emotionlessly. She had been looking out the window for the past few minutes that they had started their journey. She had made no contact with nobody.

"Penny look, I just-"

"Dad, please, I don't want to talk to you right now. There's nothing left to talk about." The two remained silent from then on, not making anymore contact whatsoever.

At the Watterson's house, everyone sat down in despair. Their one member was gone forever and they had made his last few days in life terrible. Everyone was feeling angry at themselves for over-reacting. Anais had cried to sleep at the hospital earlier so Nicole dropped the girl in the kid's rooms. She was still full of massive pain as she limped to her room. Richard followed her as Darwin was left on the couch, looking at the ground in depression. He was now alone. His best friend and brother had left the world too early. Darwin still had the fresh memory of him kicking his own brother and cursing at him. Truth be told, Darwin didn't know what he was doing and he felt so crushed noting that it was the last time he had ever spoken to Gumball, still alive. The door then rang as Darwin unhurriedly got up to answer it. He saw Tobias and his sister Rachel who were looking behind Darwin.

"Darwin, where's Gumball, I gotta talk to-"

"Tobias. Gumball is…" Darwin interrupted but quickly stopped as he turned away. The two looked at him as he started to sob. He sobbed to the point where he couldn't stand up. Tobias ran to his friend, placing a hand on him, trying to find out what's going on.

"Darwin, what's wrong?" Darwin could only reply with choked words. Rachel embraced and comforted the fish as she tried to help out.

"Look, just tell us what's wrong kid, we'll help you." Rachel said as her voice grew in anticipation.

"Guys…Gu-Gumba-ball…he's-he's DEAD!" Darwin started to wail uncontrollably as he collapsed completely in Rachel's arms. Tobias walked backwards into a wall, full of fright. Rachel was also in shock but she was focused in comforting the fish. Tobias then began to hold his head as he started to shake.

"No...No! NO! THIS IS NOT REAL!" he screamed. Nicole had come down to find out what's going on. Tobias looked up as he started to cry as well. "Mrs. Watterson, is this all true?" Nicole only gave a tear and a nod as she sat on the stairs, sobbing silently.

Meanwhile, Jamie, a horned female buffalo, was watching the television with raged eyes. She was one of the many people that had blamed and despised gumball ever since the incident. The reason for the hate was that the explosion had injured her father, who had a meeting with one of the teachers, and her little brother. Both were in critical condition. She got bored of the tele, and she was about to turn it off, when she accidentally flicked to a news report segment.

"_Reporter: This is just in! The apparent child that had caused the explosion 3 days ago, Gumball Christopher Watterson, was found dead in his parent's car, found at the bottom of the sea just near Elmore highway. His body was found with several scratch marks on his arms and chest as well as a farewell note. It is clear that the death was not accidental, but suicidal. Two cops were on their patrol, when they saw the car speeding to the cliff that leads to the deep waters below. Here is their account of the incident._

_Cop 1: We were on our night shift patrol when this green car speeds past us. We swerved and followed it. As we got closer, we noticed this was the Wattersons' car._

_Cop 2: We tried to overtake the car to stop it, but we were too late. We immediately called for back up and ambulances. A rescue helicopter got down there, but they only recovered his dead body._

_Reporter: A recently dismissed detective believes that this suicide was unnecessary, as he believes strongly that Gumball Watterson was not the cause of the explosion that had injured several. He had been strongly looking for clues for the past few days since the incident. Fellow colleges believe that this detective is still on the job as others try to stop his illegal investigation. This is the Elmorian Report Channel. Signing out."_

Jamie dropped the remote in shock. She hated Gumball, but this was something out of the blue. She continued to stare on the TV as her mother came in, sipping on some coffee.

"Jamie, it's 9:30 pm, go to sleep." She yawned. She got response as she got closer to her daughter. She noticed her expression as she stared on the television. "What's wrong? You look like you've watched someone die!"

"Mom. Someone did die. Gumball did."

Another entity was watching the news at the same time. However, his reaction was the only thing different.

"Hehehe…there goes one of them. Now, for the next step…" he chuckled softly as he grabbed a pistol hidden in his drawers. He cocked the gun as he began to fall asleep on his torn down couch, dreaming of his unknown assault that would take place tomorrow.

_**The Following day…**_

Today was 5:30 am. Gumball's funeral had begun the day after he was found dead in his parents' car under the bottom of the sea. His remains were displayed in a pure white coffin at the Elmore Memorial Church. Everyone who had known him would arrive there. Yesterday, Penny had knocked on people's houses, who knew Gumball, to tell them of the event and the funeral that was to take place the next day.. At first, some of them didn't believe her, until she gave them a copy of a photograph of Gumball in the morgue. Some people didn't need to get invited, as they probably watched the news of the horrific suicide. The family in the church was all dressed in black. Darwin was at the back of the church with the black bag filled with farewell letters that Gumball had left behind before he finished his time. He looked at the names of the people that Gumball had wanted to give to. Earlier in the morning, the family found a letter directly written to them by Gumball. Of course, everyone was in shock. Each of their letters simply said that they can live happily without him and that they must go on. Darwin was not with his family looking at the casket. Darwin just didn't want to look at his deceased brother again. Richard, Nicole and Anais were still at the front, looking at their son who was dressed neatly in a black suit. Gumball's face looked like he was still depressed; his eyebrows were tilted, his mouth was frowning, and overall, his appearance gave an atmosphere that Gumball was not supposed to die. They were still like this until the first visitor came. The family looked back to see who it was. Penny Fitzgerald. She was on her own today. She wore black attires instead of her normal orange ones. She also brought in flowers and her own portrait of Gumball, held tightly in her arms. She came slowly at the front while the Wattersons took a seat. She slowly placed the items on the casket as she leaned on the glass. The next visitor was Tobias' family. Tobias was the first to run up, crying at Gumball's remains held in the casket.

"GUMBALL! WAKE UP! YOU CAN'T DIE LIKE THIS! DUDE, WAKE UP! IT AIN'T YOUR FAULT!" At this point, Tobias had sat on the ground, full of disbelief. He was then carried off by Rachel, who then stared at the cat.

"I know you did that prank…but that didn't mean that you had to end it like this…you probably didn't cause that explosion after all…" she whispered at the glass before she helped Tobias sit down. Darwin then came up, giving Tobias a letter. He opened up the letter that contained stains of blood as his hands trembled.

_To Tobias:_

_You are a good friend Tobias. I had __great times with you, and I want to say how much I will miss you on the other side. Alas, everyone pretty much __hates me now and __wants me to die, except you and some other guys, and I appreciate that. Right now, you shouldn't look at me like a friend anymore. I have been wrong in the first place. The truth is that I caused everything. Don't try to find out the truth. There is no other truth. Farewell._

Tobias then crumpled the paper as he sat back in turmoil. Darwin slowly made his way back to his seat in the back. Rachel looked at him, still depressed. As much as Rachel felt bad for her little brother, she felt even worse for Darwin since he was pretty much the guy who had spent most of his life with Gumball. She got up and sat next to him, trying to comfort him somewhat.

"Darwin, I don't know why this had to happen. I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I can do. I really do." Darwin simply gave a sniff as he looked at the bag full of farewell letters. Rachel then made a comment about them. "So, did Gumball write any letters for me?"

"No. He only wrote letters to people that still weren't angry at him." Rachel felt crushed at Darwin's comment.

"But, I wasn't angry. I was skeptical that he did it. It couldn't have been his fault. Even if it was, he shouldn't have ended it like this." Darwin looked at the older girl as he breathed in hard to confess something.

"Rachel, maybe I made him do this." Rachel opened her eyes wide at his statement.

"What? Why?"

"The last thing I ever said and done to Gumball…was-" Darwin suddenly wept at the memory that still haunted him. Rachel embraced the fish as she tried to calm him down.

"Look, breathe in, relax. What was it?"

"-I-I ki-kicked him the-then I said-said-fu-fuck yo-you to him-" Rachel was stunned that the 10-year old had swore. She felt a bit angry at Darwin, but now was not the time to scold him as he was sobbing for his mistake. "-ma-maybe I we-went to-to far-" he continued. Rachel gave sighs as Tobias sat with them.

"Darwin, it's not your fault. It ain't Gumball's fault either."

"Then who? I blame myself for this!" he screamed as everyone looked at him.

"What?" said the multicolored kids in unison.

"Look! On that day, Gumball and I had the same prank! I didn't know he already added the thing on the desk in the science lab, so I accidentally added more on it! MAYBE I DID IT!" he screamed loudly until everyone stared at them. Darwin's blue mother suddenly sat up as she plopped her ears upwards. Nicole walked up to him, with building rage inside.

"What? You were the one who did it? You hid the truth from us all? You framed Gumball? ANSWER ME!" she screamed furiously while she tried to grab her adopted son. This only made Darwin cower as everything was going out of order. The people in the church easily broke the fight; Darwin was covered and protected by Rachel, Tobias and Penny, while Nicole was pulled away by Richard and Tobias' parents.

"Nicole! Nicole, stop! Relax!" yelled Tobias' dad. Richard used his large embrace to pull his enraged wife away.

"Honey stop! It couldn't be Darwin's fault!" he said softly.

"No, it is!" Darwin butted in with peaked regret.

"Darwin, no it isn't! Stop blaming yourself!" Rachel shouted as she held the fish tightly. Tobias then ran to the front as he yelled at everyone.

"STOP!" Everyone began to calm down as they took a seat. While everyone got his attention, Tobias continued. "Look, everyone here right now is not to be blamed! Gumball didn't cause the incident! Darwin didn't cause anything! No one is to blame here!" At that point he looked back at the casket, sighing in fatigue, emotionally. As everyone relaxed, another bunch of visitors came. It was Penny's family. Penny looked at them and simply walked quickly to Tobias, who was still at the front as she didn't make contact with her father. She still held the grudge at him for not driving her to Gumball's. If he had agreed to help, maybe they would've had time to stop Gumball from killing himself. Even Penny's dad began blaming himself. Penny's family then made it up to Gumball's casket. Tobias went back to sit with his fishy friend and his sister. Penny followed him but was pushed back by her father, who had still been trying hard to express regret to her ever since they all found out the news.

"Penny, I'm sorry." Penny fought her father's push as she freed herself. She walked off but turned her head around.

"Saying sorry a hundred times can never bring anyone back to life. I know my life has ceased, and there's no way I'll be back to my former life." She snapped strongly as she sat next to Rachel, who held a now sleeping Darwin. Penny's father could only sigh as he looked at the body in front of him. He gave a large sigh as he bowed his head in shame. The family sat next to the Wattersons as they exchanged conversations. The doors flew open as the morning sun had finally appeared. The family that came in was Jamie's. It was only her and her mother, as her other injured family members were still stuck at the hospital. Before arriving here, they told the news to her father. Jamie looked at the remains as she sat with her mom; both were in complete shock and awe. The next guest was the same fellow that guided the Wattersons and Penny to the morgue. Nicole got up to shake his hand as the dog grabbed her hand tightly, trying to comfort her.

"I'm so sorry about this death Misses Watterson, but I assure you, he will not rest without closure. I am still finding more about the Elmore High explosion. I strongly believe that your son is very innocent in this case." Nicole hugged the detective as he patted her back.

"Thank you so much Mister Hunter." She said softly, holding back her sobs. Richard came along and shook his hand to him. As he bowed his head to him.

"Thank you so much Detective Hunter. I hope your investigation will find out more."

"I know it will, Mister Watterson. Thank you, but in the meantime, I would like to share my condolences to your son. Stay strong, friends." At that, he sat with the Wattersons, explaining more of what he was going to do. After him, a most likely helpful guest came in. Carrie and her parents floated in as they directly came up to Gumball's remains. Carrie then felt her heart break as the dream she versioned was in fact real. She was about to cry when her parents reminded her of something, which made her stiffen up. They picked their area as Tobias quickly came up to the ghost girl with anticipation.

"Carrie!" he said in sudden gladness.

"Tobias." She replied back with no tone in her voice.

"Carrie, you're a ghost, can't you speak with Gumball's spirit?" Everyone in the church looked at the ghosts as they hoped that they could, just as much as Tobias. Carrie's parents simply shooked their heads as Carrie justified this.

"I'm sorry Tobias. We can't do that. Yes, we may be ghosts, but we can't actually talk to the dead. We can't help anyone right now. I'm sorry." Tobias then slowly made his way back to his area as Carrie sighed in disappointment. One of the things that the ghost family had discussed was that Carrie shouldn't form any relationship with the dead and the living at an early stage. They said that if they did, the spirit that died would never get any chance to live in peace. The seal that marked them to be entitled to go to heaven would break. Direct contact was what she had to avoid between the dead and the living. Besides, her main job right now was to find clues and help Gumball's spirit rest in peace. She then suddenly felt an odd tingle in her non-solid body.

"I feel something weird…Like I feel there's a presence outside…" whispered Carrie as her eyes darted around. Carrie's father looked around and he whispered to his daughter.

"Carrie, go outside. Confront him. Your job has begun. You may start with questions." Carrie nodded at her father before she floated away. No one took notice of this as they all closed their eyes, and prayed for Gumball's soul.

Just outside the church a disembodied white mist had arrived to the church area. The ghost was hiding behind a tree. For all this time, the ghost had been following his family ever since he had ended his life.

"So this is what Heaven feels like…" pondered Gumball as he floated up the tree. He had been emotional for that past few hours since his bereavement. He had been crushed, but he stayed strong as he followed his parents to the hospital, where they wept over his cold body that Gumball once possessed. "I feel fine." The wind blew hard as he felt it. It was cold. Clouds began to form together as time went on. "I deserve this. Maybe this is for the best." He looked up at the sky as clouds began to form. "Maybe." He sighed before floating away. Before he was even 10 feet away from the tree, a voice called out to him. He first ignored it when the voice became louder and closer to him. He looked back, and was surprised to see who it was.

"Ca-Carrie?" Carrie had followed the white formation that had floated away from the church. Gumball was surprised, but he turned around and began to float away from her.

"Gumball stop. I can see you. I can feel you. I can help you." Gumball stopped but he still didn't change his position. "Gumball, I realize that this is why I am here. This is why I still exist in this world. I need to make you rest in peace."

"But I am in peace. Don't follow me."

"Gumball, stop!" The two ghosts then approached each other as they gave each other looks. Gumball then floated back down to the tree as Carrie followed him. As Gumball relaxed, he began to listen up. Carrie then started.

"Gumball, first I wanna know…why did you have to do this?"

"So they all can be free. I am a heavy burden that no one should carry. Everyone is happy I'm dead."

"Are you sure?" Gumball gave a strong nod as Carrie, surprisingly, held Gumball's hand tightly that he felt it. "So you say they are free? Come with me." Gumball pulled back as he refused to.

"Carrie! Why are you thinking? They can't know that you see me!"

"Why not?"

"I don't want them to know I'm here!"

"Gumball, I know what I'm doing." The two went trough the doors as Carrie had let go of Gumball. Gumball looked around to see that no one took notice of them. Carrie had learnt a new power in the library. She can appear or disappear at will and remove all presence of them, such as temperature change and presence of matter. Everyone had arrived since the time Carrie met Gumball. The cat realized that everyone had arrived; family members, his friends and even his former enemies who wanted to pay their respects. He even saw the Robinsons placing flowers next to his coffin. He saw Penny who was greeting everyone. He wanted to go to her, but he forced himself to stay away. He caught a glimpse of Darwin, who had still been comforted by Rachel. He ignored his brother, as he still had a bit of anger for him for the kick. Right now, no one can see them except for Carrie's parents, who were planned to ignore them to cause zero-suspicion. Gumball looked around to see that everyone was mourning for him. He thought that everyone would be happy that he would be dead, but that wasn't the case. Everyone was crying for him. He heard many of the visitors say that his death was unacceptable.

"Look at everyone Gumball. Everyone is grieving you. Everyone misses you. They all now realize that their held grudge was not worth it. Everyone believes your death was unnecessary. This is why your death was futile! You aren't meant to die!" she explained. Gumball still didn't want to believe her.

"Carrie, stop pulling me away from heaven!"

"You aren't in heaven Gumball! That's why I am helping you!" Gumball quickly flinched at the comment as he spun around to look at everyone's faces. "The truth is that you aren't in heaven! You're in purgatory! This is why I need to help you! I need to help you find a closure and I need to help you get peace so you can go to heaven! If I don't help you, you'll never be at peace!" Gumball still arrogantly turned his back towards her as he didn't need help at the moment.

"You know what? I understand this fate! Leave me alone! I'm happy! Everyone's happy!" he shouted before he sped outside trough the church doors. Carrie quickly followed him but lost track of him. The only way to find Gumball was to trace his energy. She followed the direction which leads to the Elmore Memorial Cemetery. Indeed, Gumball floating over a hundred tombstones. Carrie slowly floated next to him as both did not speak. They were like this for several minutes, not knowing that it had suddenly become night. They were gazing in the cemetery for so long, that they did not care about the time. Gumball floated slowly away from the area, flying back to his former house, along with Carrie who simply stayed quiet. He looked inside the window, spotting Darwin who was flat out miserable. Gumball turned around to see Carrie again. Once again, she grabbed his hand as they came in through the walls. They looked around as Gumball held back some regret. Gumball looked at his brother as he floated next to him on the couch.

"See Carrie? He's happy I'm dead."

"Are you sure Gumball? Why don't you look at his face more closely?" Gumball simply ignored her as Carrie gave a sigh. "Let's look downstairs in the basement." The two headed down to where Gumball had lived for the few remaining days of his life before he left. There, they saw Richard and Nicole setting out candles on the desk that still had stains of blood on it. They also arranged flowers around a picture of Gumball when he was still a baby. The floors that once had blood where cleaned and the walls that were once scratched were repaired. But the feeling was still the same. Nicole clenched her chest hard as she knelt down. Her husband knelt with her, but was pushed away.

"Richard, I want to be alone for a while. Go away." She murmured in pain as the rabbit slowly climbed the stairs.

"I wish this is all a dream to forget…" he said to himself softly, passing trough the two ghosts who were still floating above the staircase. Gumball still ignored his father's pain, claiming that it was relief in him. Carrie pulled Gumball downwards as they floated next to Gumball's mother who was now grasping her head in misery. Drops of tears fell on the ground as she slowly sobbed. Carrie took a good look in Gumball's eyes as she held his hands, but he could only stare at a wall.

"Gumball, is this what you call happiness?" she asked him with soft authority. Gumball gave no response as Carrie had let go of him. "This is not happiness. This is grief. To you, she is filled with joy. The truth is that she greatly misses you. She feels the greatest pain she can ever imagine in her life. She will be forever tormented Gumball. You left your mother to be tortured in her own hell. Gumball, the truth is-" she was quickly interrupted by Gumball who was now losing his patience.

"Why don't you shut up! Let me be myself! Let me die like this! Let me wander this world! I deserve this!" with that, he flew above as Carrie swiftly followed him. She then gazed at Gumball, who stopped to look at Anais, who was sitting on her work desk. As they went closer, they noticed that Anais was working on a scrapbook, full of photos of her, Darwin and Gumball. She quickly wrote a note on the bottom of a page as Carrie forced Gumball to look hard at it.

'_MEMORIES OF BETTER DAYS'_

Gumball shook his head as he took off trough a wall, screaming in agony. Carrie followed him, leading them outside the building. Gumball was floating on a tree as Carrie flew with him. She placed a hand on his cold shoulder as he pushed himself away.

"Why me…" he muttered while he sobbed inside. Carrie tried to place her hand on his shoulder again as she tried to calm him down.

"Gumball. Things happen. Things go wrong. But everything has a solution."

"What? I'm like this forever?"

"Not exactly Gumball. The reason why you are wandering in an endless purgatory is because you left a life that had so many gaps and so many answers left hidden. It's obvious that you weren't the cause for the incident." Gumball opened his mouth wide in shock. He still wanted to blame himself, but someone else did it? He slowly came up to his senses.

"So…everyone blamed me for no reason?"

"Yes…There wasn't a reason for the blame taken on you."

"So…I died for nothing?" Carrie was going to be prepared as she floated an inch away from him.

"Yes." At that point, Gumball began filling up with emotional turmoil as he wailed loud, knowing that everything that he thought would go to plan was shattered. His death was pointless now. Carrie could only stay strong, as she felt Gumball's pain. When the mission started, whatever pain the soul she would help is what she could feel. She clenched her head, trying to calm herself down, and even calming Gumball down. Every emotion Gumball felt, is what Carrie felt, and every time Carrie held back the emotion, Gumball would so too. Gumball began using a large amount of energy that startled Carrie. Gumball then managed to grab a stone on the ground. Carrie opened her eyes wide; this was something that she should stop or prevent as often as she could. If the spirit was in complete turmoil, they'll turn into poltergeists, grabbing items and throwing them around. Gumball threw the stone at one of the windows of his house, causing all of it's occupants to wake up and investigate. Gumball then grabbed a bigger stone, but was pushed away by Carrie's stronger energy.

"Stop it Gumball!"

"Why? It's my family's fault I went in depression! It's their fault that they wanted me to die!"

"No! It's no- look calm down!"

"AARRRGGHH!" Carrie flinched after feeling Gumball's pain inside. The pain was so great, that it was something Carrie had never felt before; it was like fire burning her insides while it was doused with flammable acid. Worst pain in the world. Carrie tried hard to calm both of them down, but she couldn't concentrate from all the agony. They screamed as their high energy started them to manifest.

"What's that mom?" asked Darwin as he looked outside. He saw two distinct flashes of light behind a tree on the other side of the street. They looked as they too saw the anomaly. Nicole quickly ran out the door as she shouted out.

"Gumball? Is that you?" her family looked at her awkwardly. They doubted that the light was Gumball. Nicole paced closer to the tree as Gumball saw his mother, who he now hated so much. He quickly calmed down, as Carrie finally gasped in relief. The lights disappeared. Nicole bit her lips as she headed back to her house. Unknown to her, that her son had picked up a large stone and was about to throw it right at her. The stone flew right towards her as Darwin yelped.

"Mom, look out!" Nicole quickly turned around and fell back. She slowly opened her eyes. The stone was a few inches from her. It didn't hit as Carrie deflected it in the last second. Richard got to his wife as he lifted her up and helping her back in the house. The family quickly sat down in the living room, trying to discuss what just happened. The family then quickly grabbed sleeping bags and pillows and other things as they called Penny's dad to drive them there. They thought that the incident was indeed caused by Gumball, and they thought he was mad that they left him in the church. Gumball's body was not alone though, as Penny was still there, guarding him with strong love. The Wattersons arrived as they saw Penny still guarding their family member. Darwin handed her a pillow, as she seemed that she wanted to stay here. Penny's father automatically left the scene as the Wattersons began setting up their equipment. Meanwhile, Carrie quickly dragged Gumball away from the house to the cemetery as she let go of him under the largest tree in the graveyard. She quickly calmed down as Gumball stopped feeling hate inside. Carrie decided that now was not the time to talk to him. They both rested as they kept quiet for the rest of the night.

As Tobias and his family returned home, they could not help but just sit in silence from the events that had taken place. It was now 6:30pm. They were the few people that had stayed with the Watterson Family until they left. Gumball Christopher Watterson is dead. Nothing will change that. Soon enough, the parents left to their bedrooms to have a rest. Rachel could only bow her head down as she sighed out.

"Tobias…I know you're sad right now…but be strong little bro…this is a hard time, but don't be like this. I'm not used to you being this sad." she said calmly as she embraced her brother, who still wore the face that spelled disappointment and shock. The door then rang as Rachel got out, answering it. The visitor was someone she did not expect. Tobias got out as he shook the hand of the man as he smiled timidly.

"Detective Morrison Hunter?"

"I saw your E-mail friend. Thank you for sharing the information with me." Rachel looked in confusion as Tobias had let the detective dog in. Rachel quickly gave him some water as they sat down.

"So, Detective-" she quickly squinted at his tag fixed on his coat. "- what brings you here?" The detective simply grabbed his briefcase and placed it on the table opening it up to reveal a whole lot of photographs, evidence kept in plastic bags and other equipment.

"Since you were so interested in finding out the truth, mister…"

"Tobias. Just call me Tobias."

"And I'm Rachel." The dog gave them hand shakes as he continued on.

"So Tobias, I hear that you wanted to join me in my investigation? Since you know so much about the incident, and you even posted me that video of that criminal that you took from a security camera that you quickly grabbed." Rachel gazed in shock as she didn't know that her little brother had done this. But nevertheless, she didn't want to butt in.

"Oh…yeah…but I guess that wouldn't matter since Gumball's dead."

"No. It still matters. We have to find the truth friend." Rachel then got up, heading for upstairs.

"I will leave you two here. You're in charge Tobias." The detective quickly thanked her for the drink as he continued on.

"So Tobias, are there any other people still interested in this secret investigation?" Tobias shook his head, but quickly countered it to a nod as he grabbed the phone as he dialed the Watterson's house. He got no response so he called Darwin's cell phone. Darwin still kept looking at the last photograph of Gumball; he was holding up a present and was giving it to Anais while Darwin was at the back smiling. This photograph was taken in Christmas, a few months ago. He gave a loud sigh as his sister sat next to him. Anais didn't bother speaking as she too was still miserable. Anais was playing around with her brother's phone until it rang.

"Hello?"

"Can I talk to Darwin?" The little girl gave a grunt as she passed the phone to her brother who took it without looking anywhere else but the photograph.

"Hello?"

"Hey Darwin, meet me at my house. We have to talk things out."

"Why? I don't have the life for it…"

"Just come! I got good news for you!"

"Okay…but I won't be much of help there…" The conversation ended as Darwin got up, going out the door. Anais stared at him as she looked at the photograph that Darwin had been staring at for the past few hours.

Tobias then called another friend, who also wanted to know more of everything else. He got no response, so he dialed her cell phone. Penny who was at the Church with the rest of the Wattersons quickly answered her phone as she sat up from the seat she was sleeping on.

"Hello?"

"Penny? Can you come over to my house?"

"Uh, I don't know…what for?"

"I got someone that can probably find out more about Gumball's innocence." Penny's eyes grew in size as she got up with speed.

"Okay, I'll be there right away!" Both lines ended as Penny grabbed her helmet. She didn't expect to ride in the car with her dad, who was still outside smoking a cigarette, as she still held a strong grudge that never died. As she got on her bike, her dad quickly called her out.

"Penny, want me to drive you to Tobias'?" Penny didn't give any eye contact as she shut her eyes, keeping in her anger.

"No thanks. I don't need your stupid help." She quickly peddled away as Penny's dad could only sigh again.

Darwin used Gumball's old skateboard to travel to Tobias. On the way, Penny caught up to him. The two stopped momentarily.

"Darwin, where' are you going?"

"I'm going to Tobias'. He called me to come there."

"What? He called me too!"

"Huh, maybe this is something worth checking out."

"Okay, let's move."

Both continued on at the same pace, chatting on the way to Tobias. They finally reached the house as they knocked on the fine polished door. Tobias opened the door and made them in. The two spotted a rather suspicious looking man sitting on Tobias' couch. Darwin gazed at the same individual who was at the church and the same guy that had leaded them to the morgue yesterday. He was still dressed in his trench coat and his hat was removed, revealing his face more. His ears were flopped downwards and his face was drooped, however he had a feel that he was a nice guy.

"So, detective, why is anyone else not investigating with you about the truth to the explosion?"

"Not one detective is interested in this. But you see… I am not a legal detective-" everyone had their eyes opened wide by this but the dog continued on. "-but I assure you, I do this to find nothing but the truth. I enjoy unearthing the truth to find closure. For those alive, and for the dead. Your cat friend, I feel, is not at peace; therefore we shall find peace for him."

"I have that same feeling too detective" added Penny.

"We want to know more detective, please go on how we'd do this." Asked Darwin as he got up from his seat.

"Kids, I am glad to hear that you are also trying to find out the trail for this mystery. Hopefully, we work efficiently as a team. We WILL find that criminal. Come on, let's head out, I will explain what we must do to ensure our evidence is strong in our van." The four went out to the detective's vehicle. It looked rusty, but on the inside, the vehicle was filled with high-tech equipment. One peculiar part of the van covered a few firearms, but the detective of course warned them of this.

"These won't be necessary for most of the time. Do not use them without my permission." The kids were a bit wide-eyed that the man would allow them to use firearms; all of them were not old enough to legally own one. With that, the dog detective drove out to the remains of the school to investigate. On the way, Hunter explained every important aspect of a detective.

Meanwhile, Gumball was still fixed next to the tree as Carrie looked on. They were the only two to have stayed here for such a long period of time. Actually, Carrie had been forced to stay with Gumball as that was one of the rules of her mission.** Never leave the soul at any cost.** **You must stay with them until they find their closure.**

"Why me? WHY?" Screamed Gumball as he tried to cool himself down. Carrie watched the boy scream in agony as she tried to hold back her own pain and tear. She kept strong as her mission was far from over…

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><p><em>A.N. – I just wanna say, I have most of the main plans of my story set up, but I will appreciate any suggestions. Anyways, thanks for the reads and the reviews. Appreciate it! Next Chapter will involve Gumball more as he begins to feel rage inside as he asks if this was his destiny…<em>

_By the way, I would like to ask everyone a quick question. Would you like my OC's from 'The Confusion' to have an appearance in this story?_


	4. Remember To Feel Real

What To Do When You Are Dead

_A.N. – Here's a new chapter! And yes, I am somewhat getting back on track with updating! I apologize for not having the final chapter to 'The Confusion' finished; I kinda ran out of a long ending to it, so please just be patient! I will try to update this story more often, and probably daily (o_0 is that possible?) if I get to finish the last chapter for the other story. Anyways, R+R+E! (Read, Review, Enjoy) Also, I may not add cameos for my Thompson OC's, as I agree with 'FudgeBall' that it might mess up the story a bit because I want the story to be in order. Also, I may wanna warn you that Gumball swears a lot in this chapter! :X_

_Disclaimer : I do not own The Amazing World Of Gumball. The Amazing World Of Gumball Belongs to Cartoon Network._

_All the songs from the album belong to Armor For Sleep and Equal Vision Records._

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><p><strong>Chapter 4 - Remember To Feel Real<strong>

As the two ghosts were resting themselves at the cemetery. Gumball was on the large tree and Carrie was floating around a couple of old cracked tombstones below. The unsullied night released a cold breeze that both the spirits could feel. A dribble of rain arrived as it made rather calming noises as it hit different surfaces. The rain only passed through the non-solid entities as they looked at each other. Carrie then began to wander around the area, as Gumball looked up in the sky, with raindrops passing through his face. A tingling sensation started to startle the girl ghost as she closed her eyes to concentrate hard. What she was detecting was also caught by Gumball, but he took no other notice of it. Carrie could not help it but to pace around uncontrollably around the cemetery premises as Gumball could only stare at her emotionlessly. She felt an uneasy feeling inside her, which Gumball could feel as well but he ignored it.

"Gumball…something's about to go down at the church…this is bad!" she said with anxiety as she slowly opened her eyes. "We have to stop…whatever this is, right now!"

"Why should I care? Let them get hurt. They don't know what it feels like to be dead." Gumball spoke but got no response. He looked at the place where Carrie used to be and saw that she was already gone. He quickly caught a glimpse of her and quickly tagged along with her. Meanwhile, at the Church entrance, an old car had pulled up next to the holy building. The rusted frame of the car was rather ear-annoying but the occupant of the vehicle paid no attention to it. He grabbed a small pistol from the glove-box that had no door and then concealing it inside his dirty jacket. He slowly made his way to the entrance while he suspiciously looked to the left and right, not wanting any other form of life to spot him. He got in and gave a good quick shout to the occupants, who were asleep.

"EVERYONE HERE IS GONNA DIE!" He screamed out loud as he whipped out his firearm. The Wattersons sleeping in the church immediately woke up and saw the man, who was masked and wearing large black glasses, but his massive purple ears were visible. The family ducked down as he fired the first shot which ricocheted off a wall, bouncing to a bench. He fired another shot, almost hitting Richard's massive build. Nicole jumped to grab her young daughter, who was crying in fear, as a bullet bounced off the tiles, sending shrapnel of ceramics to spike around. Another shot was fired as the bullet scratched Nicole's cheeks, narrowing killing her. She fell down in pain, accidentally dropping Anais. Nicole accidentally had her head totally exposed to the upcoming bullet's path. Without warning, the assailant pointed the gun right at Nicole and fired another raging bullet right at her, but for some reason, the bullet stopped and fell on the ground midway. Anais crawled back quickly to her mother, who was holding a bloody cheek, as the red fluid flowed to the ground. The assailant was a bit dazed at this but disregarded the apparent illusion and was about to fire another shot when his hand was forcefully pulled down by an unknown force. Carrie, who was completely invisible, used all of her remaining energy without showing herself, to throw the gunman, who fell hard with a thud. He attempted to grab the gun which fell a few inches from him, but it mysteriously was thrown away from him. The attacker tried hard to get up, but the same unknown strength was holding him down. Richard then quickly ran full speed at him, as he was defenseless right now in his position. However, the assailant quickly got up and ran away through the front doors of the church as he escaped in his car. Richard went back to comfort his family. They looked around and noticed that Darwin and Penny were missing, but decided not to search around for them right now. Nicole weakly got up, still holding Anais, who was panting heavily. Anais was spoilt by a bit of blood from her mom, as well as Richard who tried to find something to cover it with. He grabbed a small blanket and gave it to her, as the white sheet began to paint itself red. Richard quickly dialed a number on the phone, trembling from the actions that had just happened.

"Detective Hunter, please come to the church, we just got attacked by someone!" The call was quick as Richard put the phone down. He hugged his family as they waited for the canine. Meanwhile, Gumball waited outside, still staring at where the attacker had gone. Before he knew anything else, he was, surprisingly, slapped by Carrie, wearing an annoyed facial expression.

"Why the hell were you just watching? Your whole family would've died right now, if it wasn't for me!" Gumball didn't want to take notice of the very solid-like slap that just hit him.

"I don't care about them Carrie, I already told you that!"

"Gumball, I just-I just don't know what's wrong with you anymore!" Carrie began to shake her head as she oddly felt head aches. Gumball felt this but didn't care.

"Well that's just fine! You shouldn't understand me at all! You don't understand shit!"

"What the hell is your problem?" asked Carrie as she began to grind her non-hard teeth. Gumball simply began to build up energy again, as both ghosts don't realize that they were manifesting again. Gumball quickly gave a massive push to Carrie, as she flew back at least 5 meters away.

"My fucking problem is my fucking mom!" Gumball cursed out loud as he tried to free the inner anger and pain. The memory of his confrontation with his mother was still fresh. The pain that was inflicted on him still hurts. The crushing swears at him only made his soul fill up with hot embers. His massive building rage was transferring to Carrie, who was beginning to understand his rage inside. She wanted Gumball to release the tension inside, as of right now, it was the only way to give some relief to Gumball's enraged core. Gumball felt that his whole misty body was about to explode. "SHE FUCKING HURT ME FUCKING HARD FOR FUCKING BLAMING ME FOR FUCKING SOMETHING THAT I DID NOT FUCKING DO! IS THAT SO FUCKING HARD TO FUCKING UNDERSTAND, YOU FUCKING WORTHLESS, GOOD FOR FUCKING NOTHING-" before he could finish it up, Carrie tightly embraced the angry spirit as she transferred a cold feeling to him, which greatly composed him down. Gumball began to shed tears as he breathed irregular breaths.

"No…don't feel this anger…please calm down…" she whispered. Gumball's quick panting morphed into slow controlled breaths as his energy faded away, making both of them invisible again. Right on queue, the Wattersons slowly walked out the building, looking around taking, great caution. Gumball fixed his small black eyes on the blue individual below as he the abhorrence slowly rose up again.

"If you could hear me mom, I just want to say, fuck you. Fuck you for bringing me here." He said as he turned around in anger. Before he floated away with no thought, his arm was grabbed by Carries finger-less hands as she gave him a caring look. Gumball looked hard at her expression, but his eyes accidentally spotted his mother, who he now sees that she was bleeding on her cheek. "I wish she bleeds to death!" he added, before getting composed by Carrie once again.

"Gumball, let's go back to the cemetery. If you don't want to see her again, that's fine. I just want you to stay calm." Gumball nodded his head, as both the spirits left the scene. The feline never looked back, while his only friend looked to see the family retreat back in the building. As they were flying in the cold wet night air, Gumball began to hear a voice in his head.

_Gumball…this is not your fault… someone set you up… nothing was your fault…_

The feline specter brushed it off. Carrie heard the voice as well, but she concentrated in whose it was.  
>The voice began again, this time slowing both the ghosts down.<p>

…_nothing was your fault…_

Carrie paused as Gumball turned around to look at her. The eerie thought was too much for him as he looked at Carrie straight in her simple oval eyes.

"Carrie, we need to find out where Tobias is." He said monotonically. Carrie looked at him, tilting her head.

"Tobias? That was Tobias all along?" she said with a confused frown on her white face.

"Yeah…before I died, I saw him and I heard his voice saying that I was set up…maybe that assailant earlier had some connection with the incident…"

"Why didn't you say that before? Let's look for him. This may be first step to ever finding anything to close your gaps." The two floated away, but unknown to them below, the RV that contained the boy they were looking for arrived to the Church. He got out, along with Morrison, Penny and Darwin. They came through the entrance, quickly spotting the gunshot holes on the walls and the benches. The kids gasped at the injuries on the building, but Morrison ignored the holes on the walls. The group slowly approached the shooked family as Darwin ran up to his mother. Penny shrieked when she saw the massive gash on Darwin's mom's face. She went back to the RV to grab some medical items. Darwin started to rub the cheek as blood was transferred on his flippers.

"Mom what happened?" he stuttered as the blood still continued to pour out.

"A man came in here and tried to kill us all…but he started to act strange, and then he left…like something hit him…" Morrison quickly spotted the rusty gun that the attacker had used, resting underneath an unscathed bench. He grabbed it with his gloved hands, trying not to contaminate any fingerprints on it and placed it in a plastic bag. Meanwhile, Penny came back with a first aid kit. Darwin made his mom sit down as Penny continued to properly clean and cover the wound. Nicole placed her hand, stained with dried blood, on Darwin's head as she tried to compose herself. She looked at Darwin, who wasn't here in the assault earlier and so was Penny.

"Anyways, why did you and Penny leave and why are you with Detective Hunter?" Before any of the children could speak, the large dog wanted to explain everything that's going on, on his own.

"You see Nicole, they want to help me with my investigation." Nicole tilted her head in confusion as she sat down straight.

"Why them? Don't you have any colleges?" The dog looked at the ceiling and gave a sigh.

"Unfortunately, I was dismissed from the job for not investigating something I didn't want to investigate…" Nicole quickly cut in as she grabbed Darwin, who tried to break himself free.

"So you're an illegal investigator? Morrison, I can't have Darwin working with-"

"Missis Mom, no!" screamed Darwin as he struggled to break free.

"Darwin, but you can't…I can't…I don't want to-"

"I want to know about the truth. Gumball ain't going to rest in peace, knowing that he did nothing wrong! I won't let my brother die in vain with so many spaces in his past life!" butted in Darwin as he gave a concerned face. He managed to break free as Nicole was not sure whether to let him go or not.

"He's right, Miss Watterson." Added Penny as she got closer to Darwin's mom. She held her hand tight as Nicole started to gain confidence. "It's for the best. It's for Gumball. We are all doing this for Gumball." Nicole looked back at her son's coffin as one of her tears mingled with her blood. Maybe the horned peanut was right. Maybe Gumball isn't at peace. Maybe he needs help. She looked back at the canine as she stood up.

"Okay…but please Morrison, I want you to take care of them. We don't want anything bad happen to them."

"I understand the consequences of bringing children to a potentially risky environment, but I assure you, they will all be safe. Now go get some rest." The canine turned his head to the rabbit as he grabbed something in his trench coat. "And Richard…" Morrison slowly paced to Richard, as he handed him a pistol and some ammunition before backing up with the kids. "You will need it, this can happen again, and I fear it will."

"Thank you." replied Richard as he stared on the shiny silver firearm. The group left as the headed for their van. Nicole waved at her orange son as he looked back with his smile, which returned to him.

"Good Luck Darwin!" she shouted. Darwin gave her another smile and waved back to her. The group slowly closed the doors, as Richard re-set up the sleeping equipment. Nicole placed Anais back into her place as Nicole could only sit and try to ease the pain on her cheeks. The large rabbit stared at the gun that Morrison had given him, and hid it under his pillow, not knowing when another strike could occur..

_**TOBIAS' HOUSE**_

"He's not here…" said Gumball quite irritatingly. The two spirits had arrived at Tobias' house, however, the whole property was void of any active occupants, and all the lights were off. Gumball slowly slid his hands down the window as he started to shed tears. "What if he gave up on me…" He then remembered the image of his mom beating him up for no reason at all when he was alive. He then got a quick taste of the kick from Darwin again. Memories of bad days flooded in as his heart sank in misery. Instead of feeling hate, Gumball just felt empty and helpless. "Dammit everyone gave up on me…" Carrie only looked at the feline as she leaned closer to him.

"I haven't…" added Carrie softly. Gumball quickly felt some hate inside as he yelled out loud. Gumball was beginning to get tired of Carrie constantly supporting him. He just hated it that she was the only one he could talk to, and right now, he thinks that she ain't helping much.

"Oh yeah? What makes you so different! You can't help me! You can't! No one can!"

"Unlike them, I am the only one that CAN help you openly! So shut up and accept me to help you! Just accept the things you got to do right now! Do you want to be free? Do you want them to be free, knowing that you are happy? WHAT?" she shouted with authority. Gumball couldn't find an arrogant and loud response, so he just started to cry miserably. Carrie shed out a tear as she whipped it off. "I'm…I'm sorry…I…I didn't…"

"I don't need help…" he sobbed back wretchedly. Carrie began to calm herself down as she touched him. "I just…I just don't care anymore…I can't go on…why is life so short?" Carrie darted her eyes around and gave him a ghostly kiss on his forehead as he quickly stopped sobbing. Both felt warm and cool at the same time. Carrie didn't kiss Gumball before but it felt…good to her.

"I'm sorry for shouting at you…Gumball…you'll make it through, I know you can. This is going to be a long journey, but I know that it will be over soon when we look on to it…" Gumball gave a weak smile as he embraced the ghost female back.

"Thanks Carrie…thanks for being the only one to be with me through all this."

"It's what I have to do. You just gotta remember to feel real even though you're not." Gumball gave a stronger smile as he let the female go. "Now come on, why don't we look inside the house? If Tobias isn't here, then we'll find out any secrets ourselves."

"You're right. Let's go." The two spirits went through the walls as the searched around the house. There was not a lot in the living room, so their best bet was at Tobias' room. They floated to it from the bottom and noticed Rachel on Tobias' couch, placing a rather dented tape in a cassette player then watching what looks like a security camera video. Rachel was completely overwhelmed at what she was seeing. The two ghosts slowly headed for her, as they had their eyes fixed on the screen. The video showed a man, dressed in a lab coat, who had walked in the very room where Gumball had placed his pranking solution. What was distinct of him was that he had huge ears. Gumball opened his mouth wide. The individual on the video was the same one that attacked his family back at the church. The shady character then pulled out a small box, placing it on the table. He opened it, and revealed a rather chunky metal container that had wires and dials on it. Then pressed a few buttons on it and swiftly placed the item under the table, and made a run for it. The camera finally saw a large flash, before the camera's recording stopped. Rachel removed her earphones in shock. Tobias had been on the sidelines, researching and desperately trying to find out what the hell has been going on.

"What the f-" she whispered in awe. "Everyone else must've only seen Gumball doing…" she stopped as she rewinded the tape. The video then shows Gumball, preparing his solution. "…but…but it wasn't his fault…" A few minutes after him, a large portion of the gap was some static, but then comes Darwin. Rachel tilted her head in confusion. Darwin placed another bit of the powder on the solution thinking that Gumball was in another lab. "Darwin was right…but…" Rachel fast-forwarded to the part with the Large eared creature. "What's wrong with the cops! They have to know this! Why did that guy not show this to them? I gotta go give this to the cops…" she sped downwards, carefully grabbing the car keys in her parent's bedroom. The ghosts simply stared at her as they watched her accelerate. Rachel was panting hard as she made a quick turn to the Elmore Highway.

"Godammit Dad!" yelled a purple rat at his large brown obese father. The larger vermin turned his Computer chair around to face his apparent son. The two weren't alone though. There were other rodents in the area, who held threatening rifles in their hands.

"What's the matter son?" he said with a deep but raspy voice. "Did the mission go according to plan?" His son only kicked a piece of trash on the ground as his heart filled up with impatience.

"No!" His father stared at him with angry eyes.

"Why not?" said the large rat as he slammed his fists on his ancient desk, rattling the objects on it. This startled the other rodents in the area as his son jumped a bit. He then leaned on the desk as he made direct eye contact with his father.

"You know you won't believe me with this reason, but…I DON'T KNOW!"

"What the hell do you mean, 'I don't know'?"

"Exactly! I had my damn gun, which is fucking gone now, pointed directly at that stupid bitch, Nicole Watterson! I was gonna shoot but then something, SOMETHING, pushed my hands down! Next thing you know it, I got pushed over, then I couldn't get up-"

"Enough! Seems you had quite a day. Go get some rest; you are now not in a good situation to work." cutted the fat rat as he pointed his stout finger to the left. His son only made a grunt as he followed the direction of his dad's stubby finger. He then relaxed a bit as he ordered his personal guards to go get some rest as well, except for one. He grabbed the skinny henchman's arm as he then grabbed an old revolver and began loading it up. He placed it on the palm of the rat's hands, as he also gave him a crude looking box that felt as heavy as five bricks. He didn't make contact with his minion as he still stared on the picture of Nicole Watterson, with a bright red circle highlighting her. The scrawny mouse, known as Phil, stared at the image, as he looked back to the two objects his boss had just given. The rodent was probably the only one to look 'decent' as he was dressed in a clean red shirt and some clean khaki pants.

"Go to the Watterson's house and bomb it. If you find any of them or just anyone, kill them. Got it Phil?"

"Got it boss." Replied the thin rodent as he walked out the rusty doors of the hideout. The fat rat got his large body up as he slowly made his way to his bedroom. He quickly took out a notepad and wrote a couple of things on it. The note had his plans on it as he chuckled evilly.

_Cause an accident to blame one of the Watterson kids - Complete_

_Wait until child commits suicide - Complete_

_Assault the remaining Wattersons - Failure_

_Destroy the Watterson's property - in Progress_

The rat then quickly placed the book back in it's original place as he took one more cigarette before he fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Rachel was still driving fast to the police station to share the shocking news that she just found out earlier in her brother's room. She rushed at the road limits, careful not getting spotted by any cops hidden behind a sign or a wall or whatnot. As she rushed through the streets, she spotted Jamie, walking alone in the middle of the night. She gave a weak honk as she looked back. Rachel stopped the car as she got out, walking to Jamie.

"Jamie, what are you doing out here at this time?" The buffalo girl grabbed the taller girl's arm and looked at her golden watch. Jamie let go as she gave a small shrug.

"Rachel, it's just 11:00 pm, don't get too excited…" she replied without any sort of emotion.

"Whatever, but why?" repeated Rachel as she knelt down to the girl's level.

"I just need to think things out…" Rachel looked deep at the girl's expression that was slightly covered by her hair. Rachel bit her lip as she looked hard at Jamie's concealed eyes.

"Is it about Gumball's death?" The multicolored hair teenager got no response as she patted the horned girl. "Look, wanna have a small cruise around?"

"Sure." Both the girls got into the car as they slowly toured around the city of Elmore. Rachel tried to keep a conversation, but Jamie always found a short answer that ended it. Jamie kept looking out the window while she bit her lower lip. The two remained silent as they passed around a park that Gumball used to hang out in. Jamie's heart started to sink as she remembered those days. Finally, the horned girl broke the silence.

"Rachel…" Rachel quickly looked at her before concentrating back on the road.

"Yeah?"

"Have I ever told you that I…" Jamie stopped as she sat back, looking at the road. Rachel kept exchanging her looks as she slowed the car down.

"Told me what?"

"That I actually…"

"Well?"

"I have a crush on Gumball?" Rachel accidentally pressed on the brakes as she stared in a bit of shock.

"What? Really?" The horned girl gave a hesitant nod as she gave out a tear. Rachel slowly wrapped her arm around her as she accelerates the car again.

"It hurts that I hated him for nothing now…I didn't even get to apologize to him…" Jamie began to sob as Rachel grabbed a tissue box and handed it to the crying female. "I don't know anymore…I liked him…but why did this have to happen?"

"Look ,no one knows, but for sure, that accident was not his fault." Jamie plopped her head up as she held back a tear or two.

"Re-really?" Jamie stuttered as she stared at the driver in slight glee.

"Yeah." Tobias found out a secret that everyone should know about." Rachel quickly opened the glove-box and gave Jamie a black cassette tape that just had a label that read;

**#25/21/12 EV.3**

The girl stared at it with confusion as Rachel stopped the car momentarily.

"Jamie, can we go to your house?"

"I guess…but how to we play this thing?"

"The thing is at the trunk." The two looked back at the road as Rachel headed for the buffalo's house. They narrowly got caught by a patrolling squad car, but swerved to a corner and drove round in circles until the cop disappeared in the street. The continued on and finally made it to Jamie's house. Jamie carefully opened the door with her keys, as Rachel followed her with a large cassette player. They carefully got in and headed to Jamie's room. On her bed was a small photo of a class photograph with Gumball circled in it. Rachel grabbed it as she stared on a written text as Jamie had begun to set up the equipment.

"Gone, but forever in me." Rachel said out loud as she read the text. Jamie looked back as she plugged in the cassette player.

"Yeah…I'll always have that motto inside of me." She then placed the tape in the player as she started to watch the security camera, while turning down the volume by a notch. Rachel sat on the ground with her as they focused on the video. When everything was done, Jamie cried uncontrollably as Rachel embraced the pre-teen girl.

"Why…" she sobbed as Rachel patted her back.

"See? It was never Gumball's fault…yet no one still too notice of this." The horned girl stood up as she wiped of a tear and grabbed the photo on her bed as she disassembled the set up. As they got out, Rachel leaned on her family's car as she stared at Jamie packing up the player on the trunk. "And that's why I was driving alone at night Jamie. I want to give this to the cops. We need to let them know."

"Yeah, let's go." replied Jamie with a sniff. They packed up and left the area, heading for the police station. It was getting late, and Rachel decided to use a shortcut; drive through the street where Gumball lived. The street was the closest path to the police station, and the two were anxious to get to it. Another late night driver was nervously looking around the road as he took a sharp left turn. He looked at the road and there was nothing but a straight path. With this, he took out the box and placed it on the seat when – CRASH – The car that Rachel was in crashed head on with the scrawny mouse's old rusty vehicle. Rachel was knocked out a bit but managed to wake herself up. Jamie quickly got out the car, and the rodent in the other one got out with a revolver. Jamie started to panic as she hid behind the car door. Rachel looked at the gunman who started to point his firearm right at her. Rachel kneeled on the ground pleading.

"Please mister, don't shoot us! Don't kill me! We're sorry! We didn't see you! Please!" The rodent slowly placed his gun down as he walked closer in the car. He then saw the black cassette that Jamie had been holding for a while. The rodent raised a brow as he grabbed the item. Jamie tried to get it back, but she was forcefully pushed away. Rachel ran to her friend and helped her up as the rodent smacked the black item on the ground and shot it with his pistol, blasting the object in to smithereens. The girls could only stare in horror. The one evidence that strongly claims that Gumball is innocent is now forever gone. He looked back at the kids and proceeded to point the gun again. Rachel then stood up trying to face off with the man. "Look, what do you want from us?" she said with fear as she trembeled.

"I'm gonna have to kill you. Orders from my boss." replied the rat monotonically. To the girls, the man looked like a criminal who'd kill anyone without mercy. But the truth is that the rat had running thoughts in his mind.

{I can't just kill these little girls…this is wrong…} he thought intensely. After a long gunpoint scene, the rodent holstered his gun and walked closer to the girls, who took a step back. He looked them all in the eyes as he walked back in his car to restart the engine that had stopped from the impact. He got his head out as he yelled back to the kids.

"I don't want to see your faces again. Got it? Now get outta here!" With that, the girls quickly ran back in their car as Rachel reversed hers to get some space to turn around the car. The plan she had tonight was foiled by this mysterious being. They looked back as he was out of sight. Rachel retreated back to Jamie's house as she punched the steering wheel, accidentally sounding the horn.

"Damnit!" she screamed loudly while tears came out her eyes. Jamie only clenched her teeth as she too was in the same anger and disappointment of Rachel. Back at the street where the confrontation happened with the teenage girls, Phil, the scrawny rat parked his car with the driver's door open, just opposite of the Watterson's house. He looked in the window, only to see that there was nothing inside of it. He looked around vigorously in the area to make sure no one saw him. He was being extra precautious, even though he wore a mask and some goggles to conceal his identity. He finally took out the item in the box, the same type of object that his college had used to destroy Elmore Junior High. He tapped in some numbers, as 00:30 lit up on the screen. The rat quickly made a run for his car and sped out the vicinity. After exactly 30 seconds, the bomb went off...

Darwin, Penny and Tobias were looking at the several pieces of notes, papers and other pieces evidences that the canine detective happened to have. They looked at it intensely, discussing each of their thoughts, but all of a sudden, the RV swerved sharply, causing everyone to fall back with some of the papers flying around. Tobias got up first and ran to the driver's seat as he looked to see that Morrison had got out the car. The kids got out the RV, as they saw a massive light shooting out at an area in Elmore.

"What the hell's that?" asked Tobias to the dog who watched the ball of fire intensely.

"Something's wrong there, let's head for it!" With that, the group got back in the RV and made their way to the explosion site. Meanwhile, Gumball stared at the dark sky which suddenly lit up. Carrie was looking at it too. This time, Carrie was too late to detect the explosion as she was in a short slumber. They flew their way above the several buildings of Elmore to get to the blast zone. As they arrived, they felt the strong heat of the dying blast. Gumball looked at the area, and noticed this was his street…and the house that was completely destroyed was his…He looked on, as the other houses were also destroyed, but still had untouched parts. He noticed on the far edge of the location, was lights of red, blue and white. He floated down as he stared at the scene. He noticed that Carrie was not down here. He looked up as he floated next to her.

"Carrie, what's wrong?" Carrie gave no response as she floated downwards with little speed. Carrie began to cry hard as she stared on the scene. Flashbacks of Carrie's memories came flooding back. She soon was then dreaming in her own world inside her mind...

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><p><em>In the central area of a small town, were two couples, who were exchanging flirts as they laughed throughout the day.<em>

"_Carrie, will you be my girlfriend?" asked a young boy, kneeling at Carrie, who was actually a living doll when she was alive. She wasn't an emo, but rather a typical average cheery girl. She smiled like there was no tomorrow as she gave laughs that made her beige skin turn pink. Carrie gave a chuckle as she gave a kiss to the boy's forehead._

"_Unless you want to be my boyfriend!" she laughed back. The boy stood up and embraced her as he gave back a kiss to Carrie's cheek. The two were having a great time, hugging and sharing their love. They sat down on a bench on a park as they talked on about their likes and dislikes. Out of the blue, a large truck swerved near a tall bank that stood over the park. Two men ran outside and made a sprint. Carrie's boyfriend looked at the scene as he stood up._

"_Hey, what's that-" before he could complete his sentence, a massive fireball blew out the truck as he and Carrie were thrown back. After what felt like an hour, Carrie woke up, looking at her boyfriend, who was out cold on the ground. She dragged herself to her friend, but she was having massive pains in her body. Then she felt her heart stop. She reached her hand towards her boyfriend, but everything was starting to fade away. _

"_No…no…no…" at that point, Carrie's visions ceased to exist. Her cold body lay soft on the ground. Carrie opened her eyes and she was in what looks like a hospital room. However, this room had a small slab on the center. Something was covered in a white sheet as she stared. She walked to it as she pulled down the sheets. Under the blankets…was her. Carrie screamed loud as her boyfriend's family arrived. A bunch of large eared and long tailed creatures mourned at Carrie's body. She looked at them as she tried to shout. No one looked at her. Then, her boyfriend, who was using a crutch to support his injured foot arrived. He cried hard at Carrie's remains. He cried loud as Carrie tried to scream at him. "I'M HERE!"_

"_Carrie, why…why you?" he screamed. Carrie looked down as her legs transformed drastically. She began feeling pain and denial as her whole world was spinning_

"_WHY ME? AAAAAAAAAAAAARGHH!"_

* * *

><p>...The flashback ended as Carrie began to cry uncontrollably. Gumball had seen her visions and felt her pain. Gumball remembered the line that she gave to him, as he started to feel broken.<p>

"This is how I ended...The life I used to have..." Carrie whispered as a tear fell down her covered eye. Gumball stared at her as he quickly remembered the line that Carrie had given him. He placed his hand on her shoulder as he still looked down on the flaming neighborhood.

"Remember to feel real Carrie. That's what you said to me." Carrie pushed herself away as she looked at Gumball straight in the eyes.

"But it's hard to know what's real when your not!" she wept loudly as the ghostly wet tears flew around. Carrie then whirled out the scene as Gumball was left to examine the remains of his house. He didn't want to bother Carrie. But then again, Carrie had been with Gumball no matter what it was. Carrie never left Gumball's side even when Gumball was being arrogant and even when Gumball had lost control of his anger. He then quickly followed Carrie, hiding behind the dust and smoke that was up in the air, trying to reach the ghost girl to comfort her. The Wattersons at the church heard the loud explosion, as all of them were out, staring at the light in the sky, with tons of smoke floating above the location.

"I wonder what that was…" wondered Nicole as she walked back in.

Meanwhile, Phil returned back to his apartment, as he gave a quick call to his boss who gave a chuckle as he heard the good news for him. Shortly after, the 18 year old criminal stared at the floor, sitting on his bed as he slowly laid back and got to sleep. He didn't know why he had to do such destruction. But a job is a job and what's done is done…

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><p><em>A.N. – Updated as fast as I can. Can't do everything within my chosen deadlines. Got other people in my house to use this comp. Yes, the whole house uses the same one computer in my room -_- Neeway's, the next chapter might be short, it's gonna be Carrie remembering her final days before she was killed..Gumball also reminiscences…Everything about Carrie in this chapter and in the next chapter are non-canonical to any of the normal TAWOG episodes. <em>


	5. Awkward Last Words

_What To Do When You Are Dead_

_A.N. – Here's the latest installment! I focused a bit more on emotions in this one, it's about Gumball remembering the good times with his family and friends as he spots landmarks around Elmore. Carrie reminiscences about her past living life as she reveals to us more about her… Anyways, R.R.E!_

_Disclaimer : I do not own The Amazing World Of Gumball. The Amazing World Of Gumball Belongs to Cartoon Network._

_All the songs from the album belong to Armor For Sleep and Equal Vision Records._

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><p><strong>Chapter 5 – Awkward Last Words<strong>

The small emo ghost female curled herself up into a ball as she started to cry uncontrollably. The scene back at Gumball's street sent millions of flashbacks in her head, so much that it had hurt her whole body. The fire, the wreckage, the smoke…it all came back to her. Her last days in her former life had ended abruptly when she was having the time of her life. Carrie finally understood what made her who she was right now. She was always emotionless and always not have much regard for others. But she had changed to become a more caring being ever since Gumball was killed. Maybe because she had to, in order to ease and help Gumball or maybe because she just wanted to regenerate that one large portion of her existence that was missing. Maybe it's why Carrie had become a bit attached to Gumball, and maybe why she had suddenly touched and kissed and embraced him from before. Her long gone boyfriend's voice still echoed his love for her through the empty space in her mind. But Carrie still didn't understand. Why Gumball? Why not search for her former boy-friend? Maybe he was gone forever? Was he dead? Or maybe Carrie was just desperate to love. But another question popped up in her mind. Why just now? Why didn't she fall in love with the other living boys in school before? It was true that Carrie had a slight crush on Darwin and Alan, but the feeling of the love towards was just not the same. It wasn't the same… Was it the attitude of the boy? Was it the looks? Was it the humor? Why didn't things come full circle to her? It was all confusing. Maybe it was the life-long permanent reward that was to follow if they were to ever be together. But nothing still made sense. Nothing could calm Carrie down as she cried hard. Gumball finally caught up with her as he floated closer. Gumball could only feel pain as he stared on the weeping spirit, but he wanted to stay strong.

"Carrie, wha-what's wrong?" Carrie looked at the feline ghost as she curled her head back in.

"You don't understand…" she sobbed back. Gumball tried to hug the girl, but he quickly stopped. The girl was in so much pain and turmoil, that Gumball couldn't continue the action.

"But I can feel what you feel…I do understand"

"I know you can, and I can feel that you care…" Carrie meant it from the bottom of her heart. She knew that the feline wanted to comfort her, but a feeling inside didn't make this situation comfortable.

"But-"

"Gumball, can you leave me alone?"

"Why?"

"Just please…leave me alone…go roam around somewhere, my feelings are crushing me..." Gumball nodded at her, and took a turn. He looked back at Carrie to give her one last sentence.

"Just…just take care…" With that, he left the girl to sob in agony in the cemetery. Carrie doubled her own pain, as the only entity that had the same feel of love when she was alive to her was just sent away from her own mouth.

"Come back…please…come back…" she whispered helplessly for the cat. The cat didn't hear the message, as he had his own thoughts in his mind. Gumball had many thoughts of his own. Was it stupid that he left the world for a negligible reason? Was it stupid that he had brought himself his very own private hell when he was alive? Was it smart to attack his mom? Was it smart to let the anger press on his mom and his adopted brother? Maybe there was a gap in his life. Maybe there was something missing… Back then, Gumball thought that everyone wanted this, but it turns out, that almost everyone wanted him to rise from the dead. Back at the cemetery, Carrie was looking around the tombstones, and looking at their names. She knew that she wasn't at peace. Why was she a ghost still roaming around the world? Another thing was why was she a visible ghost? She looked at every detail of her afterlife so far and she still couldn't figure it out. Maybe there was a gap in her life that remains unfilled. However, she remembered a sentence that her wise father had given her from before back in the lab.

"_You are visible to everyone because you've been marked as a 'savior'."_

"A savior… that's who I am…" she whispered to the wind.

Meanwhile, Gumball floated around Penny's house; he wanted to see what she felt like the day after Gumball's death. There was no apparent sign of her until the sounds of a heavy old engine increased in velocity. The vehicle then came in view; as he saw the doors open up. The black RV with a red line released a brown horned girl with hollow eyes and mouth. As Gumball got in closer, he heard the quick conversation that was taking place.

"Go get some rest Penny. Tomorrow, we will analyze our evidence so far. Five-Thirty."

"Thanks Mr. Hunter."

"Cheers."

The conversation ended as Penny walked in her house, and the large vehicle drove off. He was wondering about what the hell they were planning. Gumball felt a bit mad, thinking that Penny is dealing with some other vicious criminal, but it couldn't have; the rusty voice in the RV said something about 'evidence', something that sounded cop-like. Gumball still couldn't make sense of this as he ignored the dialogue. He looked at the window as Penny gave a sigh. She looked at the ceiling as she looked out the window, directly where Gumball was. She then spoke, almost making it seem like she was speaking directly to her loved one, but that's not the case.

"I wish you were here…I miss you…"

The peanut girl turned around and made it up the stairs, disappearing from Gumball's sight. He closed his eyes hard as he tried so hard to not let his heart fall apart again. He too turned around to fade away in the cold night. He floated above the ground, just so his lower part touched it. He could feel the cold ground as his tail rubbed on the hard concrete surface. He kept going until he saw the park where he would used to hang out. He examined the swing set that he had last used, the day before April 1. It all seemed fresh. A sudden flashback then brought him back when he was just 5 years old, along with a 3 year old Darwin, both with their parents, both playing in the sets. Gumball idled on a bench, as he shut his eyes, to see the memory again…

Echoes of laughs and giggles bounced in the mind of the dead feline. Laughs…

_I remember…I was on this seat, colored bright red…Darwin was here too on this blue one…mom and dad were pushing us…I remember that young spring morning, we were here, we were free, we were wild, we were on the top of the world…I laugh along with the smiling faces of my family…colorful plants were in the air…The sun gave us it's usual smile… people around the park were having a good time too…I miss those days…_

"_Dad, push me higher!" chuckled my young adopted brother as he looked back at our big fat father…_

"_Mom, push harder!" I said as I giggled with so much happiness. The wind brushed on my young cheek. I had so much fun, I didn't notice that I my hands slipped from the ropes. I then accidentally fell on the ground, I cried hard as a bruise formed on my face. My mom quickly picked me up and hugged me and kissed my injury._

"_Oh, there, there, it's just a tiny little boo-boo! You'll be okay! You're my strongest little boy, and you know it!" I stopped crying as I knew she would be right. Her voice was so calming…so gentle…I couldn't stay mad at a woman like her forever…I want to regret the things I said about her…I was wrong… _

"_You'll grow up to be strong big man just like me!" boasted my ever-so charming dad while my mom gave him a kiss. I miss his humor…his humor was gone now…_

"_You'll be my bwig stwong bwotha and you'll take cawe owf me!" chirped my fishy brother, giving a massive smile on his face…_

_The three faces looked at me with smiles on their faces. The image was so warming… It felt like I was their king…I wanted to embrace all of them…_

Gumball's dream was abruptly finished when he felt a presence arrive next to him on the bench. He opened his eyes, and saw a horned buffalo female, weeping. Jamie once again ran out her house to wander around the place as she still had regrets in her mind. She just couldn't get herself to go to sleep.

"Maybe I should've said it before…maybe I should've said sorry to him..." Gumball raised his eyebrow as he was confused at what the girl was trying to say. He then looked at her hand, which held a class photograph. He stared at the circled image on it, as he and Jamie both said the text written on it.

"Gone, but forever in me." Gumball still didn't know what Jamie meant, until Jamie softly spoke it to the wind.

"If you can hear me Gumball…I kinda fell in love with you…I just didn't show it…I'm sorry." She said as she wiped off her last tear. She got up and prepared to walk back home, leaving Gumball with a gap in his life to fill up… He remembered one day in school, were Banana Joe gave him a letter…

"The school…" Gumball whispered. He didn't ever make it to the ruins of the school, ever since he thought he blew it up. He knew where to go now as he floated away from his childhood landmark.

After hours of sobbing and trying to explain things in her mind, Carrie settled her crying fit as she uncurled herself. Carrie drifted away from the cemetery to float somewhere else. Carrie suddenly understands why she was restless. That was the only explanation she could think of as to why she still roamed the world in her endless and ageless existence. The same reason why Gumball is restless; **'There were gaps in your past life.'**

"I want to live again. I want to start everything over again." Carrie toned as she flew to the park that Gumball was just in earlier. She stared at the swing seat, which was extremely similar to the ones that Carrie played in back at her old town. She looked to her right as she imagined the where the old road and the bank used to be. She knew that this was very much like the place that she had spent her last remaining day of her beautiful life. Just her and a boy with big brown ears...Carrie tried hard to remember what his name was as she rested on top of the unmoving blue seat of the bench. She closed her cute eyes as she started to focus on the dream that circled in her mind…

_I was only 11 years old and my best friend who was just two years older than me. I had many friends back then. I remember the name of the place I was in. 'Mossberg'... I dubbed it to be the city of angels. Many kind people and so many clean streets. So many people were civilized. So many birds, so many butterflies, so many flowers. Every building was filled with magic. Even the old school… The school back there wasn't anything like the one here in Elmore. Teachers were like friends, they helped you no matter who and what you were. There was no such thing as beatings or detentions. Everyone understood everyone. It was impossible to not fail in my old school. But what I loved the most in 'Mossberg' was this one person that had lived there all his life. A person that made me feel totally complete. A rat boy who I instantly fell in love with… I can never remember his name though. Maybe that's what I need to know? Or maybe do I have him and find out what's he doing nowadays? I can never know, but that's what's keeping me from ever entering heaven. Nowadays, I don't know where Mossberg is now. I don't know if it's still a city full of angels ever since a group of thugs just ended my life. I'll never forgive them. Never. I was angered that my parents were killed by being shot by stray bullets from a firefight between some cops and I believe, the same thugs who killed me. But for some reason, I wasn't happy that they joined me. I am disappointed that we were dead. Now I'm here. Brought by my parents, who were also visible to other people. Elmore. It's…it's just not the same…_

"Not the same…" Carrie murmured as she appeared in what remains of the old Mossberg center. Leaves were on the ground. The bench that she used to sit in was gone. The swing set was rusted and the colors peeled off. Old grimy trees that lacked leaves grew above where the old buildings were. Carrie was then surprised to see an old doll that was missing many of its parts. She looked around to see if people where around, but at the state of this area, there's bound to be no visitors coming along. She made herself visible and used her energy to pick up the toy on the ground. She stared at it wildly. An image of her living self appeared in front of her own very eyes.

_This doll…this was the last thing I ever got as a gift… My best friend, soon-to be boyfriend, or rather would-be, gave this on that beautiful day…_

"_Carrie, I want you to have this!" he smiled as he handed me a doll which had a striking resemblance to me. "I made it all by my self!"_

"_Thank you so much -!" I replied back. For some reason that name is still inaudible to me. It was like it was muffled. It was like I was not allowed to hear it. I can't figure out the name. I probably never will._

"_One day, if you ever want to remember this day, just look at this doll!"_

"I can't remember anything…" Carrie whispered as she dropped the doll on ground. Carrie closed her eyes again.

_Why did everything have to end for me? Why is life so short, said Gumball to me back then... Why is it so short? Come to think of it, why did I have to die? I was the only little girl that died that day. Everyone else was older than 25…_

Carrie opened her eyes and was still exactly resting idly on the blue seat of the swing set. She looked up in the night sky as she saw the same stars she would stare at with her boyfriend. It was cold but the warmth of her friend did not exist anymore. Meanwhile, Gumball returned to his family back at the church. He saw his big father, snoring his butt off, as Gumball gave a short giggle. He went to his big father and gave him an embrace.

"If you can see or hear me Dad…I want to say sorry…sorry for leaving you like this…as much as it hurts for you, it hurts the most for me…I love you so much…"

The rabbit gave a yawn as he flipped his chunky body over. Gumball gave a laugh as he stared at the stained glasses that had light coming out of them. The morning sun was appearing as he looked closer at his mom who was sleeping soundly, with some gauze that had a large red circle on it. Gumball brushed his cold hands on it, attempting to ease her pain. He laid himself down as he embraced his mother. He looked at her pretty face as he shut his eyes.

"If you can see or hear me mom…I want to say I'm sorry…I know it's a dumb move to die and leave you to cry for me…but there's nothing I can do…I wish you could help me…I love you so much mom…I love you…"

Gumball opened his eyes again and straightened his plasma body upwards. He headed for Anais, who was just next to her mom. Before he could touch her, he heard his mom speak directly to him.

"I love you too Gumball…" The feline ghost turned around and saw she was still asleep. He gave a smile at her before he continued on to his young sister. He gave her an embrace and simply gave a ghostly kiss on her as he too tried to speak to her. He knew that they probably can't hear him, but he didn't care.

"If you can see or hear me Anais…I want to say that I'm sorry…I know I've been a bad brother, but I knew that you loved me as a brother even if I hurt you…and I love you too as a little sister even if you were a brat to me…you always was there for me when I needed help…now I will guard you forever…I love you so much little sis…"

Gumball got up and rested on top of his coffin. He stared down on it, and there he saw that his blue color from his body was turning paler by the moment. He gave out a sigh as he looked at the many tags on his coffin, tags that were written to him. He looked at all the letters as he began to regret his failure to fix things. He looked back at his life, and he realized that he's made friends more than enemies. Sure, he was a crazy and dumb guy, but people kind of liked him. He realized that everything that has happened so far is a mistake.

"I wanna live again…I wanna start everything over again." He then saw flashes of things back in the past that he did wrong. "I wanna get this right…" Before anything else, he flew down the coffin to his beloved mother. He cuddled his non-solid body to her. There was no warmth, but he didn't care. He just wanted to be back to his family.

Carrie was still floating above the city as she looked desperately for Gumball. She had been so covered in the memories of her past, that she had forgot what her main mission was. The rule was to never leave him behind, but rather she forced him to leave. Carrie started to breathe irregularly as she tried hard to trace Gumball's presence.

"Why did I do that? That was so stupid! I can solve my own problems when I fix his!" Carrie said loudly to herself. The cold wind was flapping her hair around. The energy was coming from the church. She flew down and flew through the roof. Indeed, Gumball was there, and he was resting next to his mom. He was smiling hard as he looked up to see Carrie. He got up from his position and sat on a bench with a bullet hole next to Carrie. "Gumball, I'm sorry for leaving you behind. I just got carried away with things…"

"It doesn't matter Carrie. I know you used to have a life. I know you have your own problems."

"I know…but I must help you. That's what I'm supposed to do."

"I don't need help anymore Carrie. I realize that I can still be happy." Carrie looked at Gumball with a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"All I have to do is just stay with them. Forever till the end."

"But, they aren't happy that you're gone. It still doesn't make a difference…"

"You said once to me that they would be happy if they know that I'm happy, that's what I'm following."

"But, no Gumball, you'll get restless…"

"Carrie you have your own problems. You should look onto them. You aren't happy, so go be happy trying to find out your truth. I'm going to stay here…" Carrie decided not to make another response. She knew if she butted in, Gumball would rage out again. He was happy at the moment, and the emo girl did not want to interrupt his temporary happiness. She rested on the bench as Gumball flew back to his mom. He gave Carrie a grin as he shut his eyes as he cuddled himself nearer to his mom.

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><p><em>A.N. – Fairly short chapter, but it is meant to be. Anyways, who is this boy that Carrie keeps talking about? Does? Did anyone feel the character's emotions? :p Anyways, thanks again. The next one will bring back our investigating band. Two others join them on the way after a fatal discovery…<em>


	6. Stay On The Ground

What To Do When You Are Dead

_A.N. – Here's the new chapter after a long wait! Yes, apologies I was BUSY (whatever that means…) We focus back to our investigator group with more insight. This chapter will be action-ish as they uncover an important front of our baddies… R,R,E!_

_BTW, there's a bit of lovey-dovey in this chapter… you'll figure it out :)_

_Disclaimer : I do not own The Amazing World Of Gumball. The Amazing World Of Gumball Belongs to Cartoon Network._

_All the songs from the album belong to Armor For Sleep and Equal Vision Records._

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><p><strong>Chapter 6 – Stay On The Ground<strong>

The cold morning wind was accompanied by the sun that didn't give off much of its usual heat. Carrie had been up all night, and was surprised that Gumball had still kept a small smile on his face. The ghost girl was feeling uneasy that Gumball had returned to his arrogant state, which slowly was. He refused to seek help once again and Carrie was still trying to figure out what to do once the feline wakes up. Her plans were crushed when the feline floated up and hovered outside the church. Carrie followed him and saw him facing the only tree in front of the building. She positioned herself next to him as she looked at his unchanging expression.

"Gumball, what are you doing?" As she leaned closer, she saw Gumball carving what looks like a bunch of tattered words. Pieces of wood flew out the bark that Gumball was writing on. He used a jagged piece of stone found on the dying grass.

"Sending them a message…" Carrie wheezed as she smacked the stone out of his hand. Gumball didn't even flinch and he stared emotionlessly at the stone that was now 10 inches from him, then he turned his head towards Carrie, who nearly gasped as she saw his face still showed the eerie same emotion since yesterday. Even the image made Carrie feel fear. And this was the first time she ever did. One thing that soared in her mind was that she started to feel other emotions. She claimed that she could only feel misery. But slowly, she felt agony, anger, and now, fear. The thought quickly faded away and she returned to the present time. Gumball was still staring at her eerily.

"No look you-"

"-Carrie, I'll let them know that I'm happy, so they can be happy." He interrupted with a rather eerie smile, a smile so weird that it almost sent shivers down Carrie's spineless back. Carrie tried to brush it off, but Gumball's sudden change in emotion was almost bewildering. She shook her head as she grabbed the male ghost by the shoulders.

"Don't message them this way! It will break the seal that still marks you to go to heaven! It's your only chance, don't break it!" Gumball suddenly began to laugh loud as he slipped off Carrie's grip. The emo girl was now pretty much in confusion. She was so confused that this situation has gotten irksome.

"There's no need to help me." Gumball said as he toned down his laughter.

"What?" Carrie asked as she folded her arms. "What with this problem all of a sudden?" Again, another weird turn of emotion struck Gumball and Carrie. Gumball immediately stopped laughing and he began to show rage in his face once again.

"Shut up!" Gumball screamed. His anger was very short lived as he returned to his blank state. "Please…" Now in so much puzzlement, Carrie could only agree with him as she slowly whipped her hair to the side, giving a small glimpse of her covered eye. The two simply stared at the quarter-finished message on the tree as they let the sun heat up the morning that had started cold…

Meanwhile, Penny rushed out her house as she entered in the RV of the detective she had worked with yesterday. The rain just started, but it was pretty strong. She had carefully got out her bedroom and the house; however, she didn't know that Penny's dad looked out the window as he stared at the vehicle in mystery. Once she walked in, she saw the orange fish attached to a smile.

"Hello Penny!" He chirped with his retuning glee.

"Hey Darwin. Are you ready for today?" She said back as she gave a quick embrace to him. Tobias came to them from the back and he sipped on some soda. Penny also, very oddly, hugged him, which was the first time she did. He had another cup on his other hand and he passed it to Penny, who grabbed it and immediately sipped on its contents. Tobias leaned on an RV wall and took another swallow.

"Well, the detective found out an interesting clue that we found back yesterday."

"Right, I want to check that out." Both exchanged glares and sips, as Darwin walked up to their leader.

"So, anything interesting that you found out yesterday?" Darwin asked Morrison who was at the front driving, as he quickly parked to an area of the street. He got up and got to the back with the kids. The canine got out a bunch of files and he placed it on the table. He grabbed out his briefcase and opened it up and placed it down with the other stuff on the table. He then took out a rather burned piece of paper out of his usual beige coat.

"Yes. In particular, this." The canine smacked down the scorched out piece of paper on the wooden table of the RV. The kids stared at it in confusion as the burnt out paper had several missing gaps. Tobias tilted his head in different directions, thinking that it would help him find out what the cryptic message said and meant.

_-ate – July-10_

_The address for our hid-ut of our ammunit- is located at -oxas bolev- 314-shop. It's the green bui-_

_-ep this safe as a referen-_

The canine grabbed the paper and carefully folded it up and hid it back in his trench coat while pieces of the burnt edges fell off. "Apparently, a thug that had caused the bombing of the Watterson's house dropped a paper which contains what seems to be a certain location…" Tobias looked hard on the floor as his mind focused on the task at hand. "I've done some research last night, while you were all safe asleep with your families-" Penny looked at the ground with her hollow eyes as she shook hear head that no one noticed. Last night, she was dropped off at her house, but instead, she joined the remaining Watterson family at the church. Darwin kind of noticed it, but he was focused at what the man was saying. "-and I found out that the real location might be this very one on this map…" The canine grabbed his laptop again and opened up a map location. He pointed his long but stout fingers to a building with a white roof. "This is the likely building that the note pointed out. It's large, and it's in a part of Elmore that no one really visits much. Not a lot of cops go around this area too. So this is the perfect front for any criminal." All the kids gave a solid nod as they understood their now defined location. Tobias then threw away his cup as he gave the canine a nudge.

"Does that place have anything to prove that Gumball's innocent?" The canine scooted to his laptop again as he took out a couple of bags full of chips and passed it to the pre-teens.

"It's possible Tobias. The note mentioned something about ammunitions. Maybe this is a secret hideout that maybe stored some bombs that were used in Elmore and just yesterday." Darwin bit his lips as he slammed his fins on the table.

"Where the heck are my parents and my little sister going to stay now?"

"Darwin, we can help them later, we must catch this location and any criminals-" Penny was suddenly interrupted by the canine who smacked his lips.

"No-no-no-no-no, Penny. We will not be catching criminals. It's too dangerous." Penny looked hard and confused at the man for a second.

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" asked Tobias as he gave a strong shrug.

"Tip them. We give them a call about the place, and we get out."

"Why are you afraid?"

"Well, remember what I said from before? I got removed? That means if they ever see me, I'll get arrested." The kids exchange nods and shrugs as the canine got back in the front of the RV. "Why don't you guys relax at the back? The place is a good distance away." The drive was pretty long, which is why the dog had taken out a large bag of chips. The pre-teens were at the back with the beds. Tobias was laying down on his bed munching on some of the chips and drinking another can of soda as Darwin was on his. Penny then sat next to him as she took a potato chip out the bag. Darwin was staring at the bottom of the upper bed, obviously thinking where his feline brother was right now. Everyday, Darwin kept thinking what he felt knowing that Gumball saw his family cry on him. Darwin also deeply pondered if Gumball had kept a grudge at him for the kick and f-bomb. Penny looked at the fading smile on his face as she also started to think about her ex-boyfriend. Penny scooted a bit closer to him and gave him a pat on his knee. Darwin looked back at her and gave a smile. For some reason, Penny felt…weird but warm, but good so she did it again. Darwin ignored her as he relaxed his legs. Penny then looked around suspiciously, and then suddenly, out of the blank void, Penny grabbed hold of one of Darwin's feet and started to tickle the fish.

"Hey, what are you doing?" laughed Darwin as he tried to get out of the girl's grip. Penny didn't respond, but she just continued to tickle him and laugh at him. Tobias looked down as pieces of potato chips crumbled down his blue lips. Of course, like an idiot, he didn't notice that his feet were slipping off the bed, and so he fell down, causing a loud thud that almost caused the RV to shake. Rubbing his head, he leaned on a wall as he gave out his smug look.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Penny turned as red like a field of strawberries as she quickly stood up and gave out fake coughs. She brushed her arms, and Darwin attempted stopped his giggling.

"Err…nothing Tobias…just bored…" The multicolored blob then turned his attention to his blushed but still happy aquatic friend.

"What about you Darwin?"

"I don't know…" he giggled again as he tried to kill the laugh from the tickles.

"Ohoo, I can feel the romance right here! Hahah-" His face was then interrupted by a pillow thrown by Penny.

"Shut up Tobias! It's not like that!" yelled Penny with slight annoyance.

Darwin laughed as he grabbed his own pillow and smashed it on Tobias' face. Tobias then grabbed the pillow that hit him first as he assaulted Darwin. Penny gave a very kidish-giggle and grabbed another pillow, assisting Darwin. The group of kids gave out laughs and slams as the canine driving gave a smile.

"Kids these days…" he chuckled as he took a turn. Soon, the group arrived to the designated spot. Roxas Boulevard, Block 3141 on Street Stud. A green building was opposite an old computer shop. The building that the group had been searching for. As the vehicle was parked on the opposite side of the building, they grabbed umbrellas, as the rain was still pouring down hard.

"This place gives me the creeps. What if this is gangster territory Mr. Morrison?" said Tobias as he looked outside the large windows of the RV in fear.

"Don't worry, this vehicle is armored. Retreat back here if something goes wrong, got it?"

"Got it." The 4 beings got in the building, as the sound of the door's rusty hinges echoed throughout the facility. The group was amazed as all they found was a city of boxes and crates. The kids stared in amazement, as Morrison spotted a staircase leading to an upper floor, and another one that lead to a lower area.

"Okay, in order to speed things up, i'll check the floor above, you three check below." Ordered the canine as he walked to the stairs that lead to the first floor. Penny and Tobias nodded, but Darwin wasn't sure. He was afraid of the consequences of just barging in a place where they shouldn't really be in. His shaking was sort of calmed down as Tobias nudged him.

"Hey, relax. At least we are together, nothing can go wrong!" persuaded the multicolored boys he gave a reassuring wink.

"O-o-okay…" Stuttered Darwin as he stared down the darkened steps of the rusty metal stairs. After a while, the group finally walked downwards to the dark part of the building. Fortunately, Penny found a switch, which turned on the lights. It was still pretty dark because the light bulbs were as dim as a dying firefly. The group looked and read the text on the boxes. It confused them since they were all codes.

"Number six two four…What the heck does this even mean?"

"I don't know, but something inside it is pretty dangerous." Penny looked to Darwin's side as she spotted a long piece of metal.

"Darwin, that crowbar-" Penny pointed towards a rather new piece of metal that was colored crimson red with a silver head. Darwin grabbed it with difficulty as the damn thing weighed a ton. Tobias assisted him to lift it. "-let's open one of these crates." Once Darwin and Tobias opened up a crate in the basement, they saw rows and rows of C-4's in the crate. They stared in awe as Tobias grabbed one of them. Penny shrieked as she grabbed the item and carefully placed it back in.

"Tobias, don't do that!"

"Why not?"

"I don't know… you could blow the place up! And we're in it!"

Meanwhile, Morrison was searching in the 5th room he had entered in the building. There was not a document of interest. He got out the room and looked at the only green door. He turned the knob, but of course, it was locked shut. Unknown to our investigators, a truck with a weak engine rolled up to the alleyway that had a backdoor that lead to the green but ancient building. Two rodents, one stout and one thin, left out the rather behemoth vehicle. The two were wearing heavy rain-jackets and waterproof fedoras, letting the rain fall down on them.

"Look, just grab a handful of C-4's and some guns. We also need to grab that file boss ordered us to get back, so open up the doors upstairs. Pack some of the crates in the truck, I'll be on the front okay?" bossed a rather stout purple rat to his brown comrade as he searched for something in his pocket.

"Yeah sure. No one's here anyway." The purple rat then began to slam his hands around his body, as he vigorously searched for the same something in the pockets of his tattered clothes.

"Shit…"

"What now?" The purple rat smacked his forehead as he started to search for the item on his friend's clothes. "What the-"

"Godammit, I forgot the keys!" Phil pushed his comrade hard as he started to shrug with madness.

"You idiot! How are we gonna get in the room with the papers?" Phil said as he grabbed his friend's jacket.

"Shit, fine, I'll check back at the truck. Probably left it in the glove box! Relax, eh?" The rat ran back to the vehicle as he searched for the item. At last, his hands touched a cold piece of metal and brought out the keys for the door inside the building which contained boxes and boxes of important documents.

"Well, you found it?" asked Phil as his teenage anger got the best of him.

"Yeah, here. Now open up the door upstairs. The code's here too."

"What about you?"

"Gonna have a smoke in the truck, got a problem?"

"Screw you…" The purple criminal quickly got back in his truck as he took out a smoke in his car. He opened up the windows to not suffocate himself.

Meanwhile, Morrison was in another room, searching inside for any hidden clues. He then heard footsteps coming up the metal stairs. He first thought that it was one of the kids, but the shadow casted by the figure from the lights, it was not any of the 3 kids. He quickly sneaked behind a door. He opened it up a bit just so he can see outside. The figure rushed passed the door Morrison was hiding in as the figure held out keys, and opened the door that lead to the once locked area.

Outside, the cold wind from the rain passed to and fro the insides of the truck as the fat rat relaxed inside. He stared out the window, which overlooked part of the road and some shops. He then noticed something that wasn't here before. It wasn't a vehicle that he had ever known. He then got a flashback…

"_Okay, so now you got the plan full circle, get to it."_

"_Sure boss."_

"_Oh by the way, if you ever come up with a black RV with some red do-dahs on it, it's Detective Morrison Hunter. If you wieners find him and some other people, KILL them. Capiche?"_

"_Got it boss."_

"What the…" he whispered in mystery to himself as he quickly put out the cigarette. He got out the truck and looked at the vehicle. It was an RV. It was black. It had red decals on it. Morrison is here. He could sabotage their little mission and more likely, end their careers of being organized criminals. He quickly ran back inside the building as his calls for his comrade echoed throughout the building. This even alerted our investigators.

"What was that?" shrieked Penny as she looked up the stairs.

"Oh no, someone else is here!" yelped Darwin as his body suddenly turned statue-like.

"It ain't Mister Morrison, that's for sure!" added Tobias who quickly grabbed the crowbar from Darwin.

"Shit!" The noise made Phil jump; making him hit his head hard on the underside of a table he was looking under. He rubbed his head as the papers he once held floated down to the dirty green floor. His partner then appeared right behind him, almost making the teen fall over. "PHIL, PHIL!"

"Jeez, I'm just two feet away from you, what?" He said annoyingly as he rubbed the back of his head. His comrade smashed his fists on his table as he whipped out his gun, startling the brown rodent.

"Someone's here! Search and kill! GO, GO, GO!" At that point, Phil also whipped out his own gun and the two ran around the building in search for the intruders. The unnamed rat ran to all the exit doors and locked them shut as he headed for downstairs. "Phil, keep up in this level! Make sure NO ONE leaves here alive! Shoot to kill anyone who tries, alright?"

"Okay, but I don't like this!" The purple rat gave him a nod as he sprinted down to the basement area, where the children were. The kid's saw the shadow of the newcomer as they crouched lower once they saw him with a raging gun in his gloved hands. Morrison was probably caught up in a fight with another one, so Tobias quickly whipped out his cell phone as he dialed for the only real hope…

Rachel was at home, sitting on the couch and staring upwards to her enraged parents. The elders had found out about Rachel's illegal night time driving. They obviously knew from the large dent on the car. Rachel couldn't argue with her parents anymore as the only thing left in her mind was the evidence that she once had. It was shattered and destroyed after the confrontation yesterday. After the tough-to-go-through interrogation by her parents, her phone rang. She picked it up, and as soon as she answered it, she was woken up drastically.

"Sis! Get to Roxas boulevard and turn to street-" The panicking voice was interrupted by a loud gunshot, as Rachel heard him running to take cover, with the sound of heavy breaths of other kids. Her heart was pounding with each second like the caller. "-street Stud, 3141, next to the computer shop, the green building! NOW!" Before Rachel could even respond to the panicked voice in the call, the caller disconnected, leaving the girl in confusion and distress. Her parents looked at her awkwardly, but brushed it off, thinking that she was faking another event again. Thinking that something has gone horribly wrong, she ran to her dad, holding the keys, and snatched it hard, making her dad jump a bit. He tried to grab her back, but came up short as the teen ran out the door as fast as a cheetah on rocket engines. They sprinted to follow their suddenly panicking daughter but she already started the engine. Before she quickly sped away, she popped her head out the window.

"Sorry dad! I need this now! Emergency! Tobias is gonna die, and I have to stop it!" She kept grinding her teeth, trying to calm her anxiety.

"Come back here Rachel, this instant!" echoed her enraged father. The two parents were still confused about Rachel suddenly saying 'Tobias is gonna die'. She knew she was going to get killed for stealing the car like this right in front of her very parents' eyes, but she can prepare for the torment later. Right now, she had to save her brother, who could die at any moment in time. Before she went to the designated destination, she reached Jamie's house and quickly slammed her blue hands on the door, causing the only occupant of the house to come out.

"Rachel, what's wrong?" Jamie said as she licked on an ice-cream.

"What's wrong? JUST SHUT UP AND FOLLOW ME!" Jamie looked at here with pure confusion. She didn't know what the hell her problem was and neither could she care. But nevertheless, the older girl barged in and grabbed any sort of weapon in the house. She ran into Jamie's bedroom and found an old broken metal pipe that used to be part of Jamie's bed, so she grabbed it hard, causing her veins on her wrists to show up. On the way down the stairs, she saw another piece of pipe next to Jamie, who couldn't see it.

"Jamie, grab that metal pipe! We gotta go now!" She shouted at the horned buffalo.

"What's-"

"NOW!" Without any other action in mind, Jamie grabbed the metal pipe. Before she could even stare at it, she was dragged by Rachel to her parent's car. Jamie's confused died down, but returned as fear as Rachel explained everything to the place where Tobias had said…

"Darwin, this way!" Screamed Tobias as both the boys ran for their lives which were now hanging on a thin thread that couldn't even hold up a feather. The enraged criminal fired blind shots as the ricochets of the bullets crashed into walls and into the crates which now the kids identified as weapons and some explosives. Penny then went another Direction, but the two boys stayed together.

"Come here you little brats!" screamed the man as he fired at a wall. Darwin and Tobias kept running away, while Penny hid behind a large crate. She couldn't do anything right now. The two boys ran to an intersection, but they met with the man, who was only 5 inches away. Tobias used all his strength to whack the crowbar at the man, but the metal bar only missed. He gulped as he jumped to the side with Darwin, as the man gave a small chuckle. "Is that all you got?" The two were now loosing their breaths as they had made a massive mistake; they ran up to a dead end. The man slowly walked at them, reloading his gun as he gazed down on the two kids who were starting to cry helplessly. "No where to go…" sneered the gunman. He cocked his head as he gave an evil laugh. "I'll make this painful!" he screamed as he cocked the gun. "You are gonna die!"

"Not today, you gun-slinging bastard!" shouted a girl with anger. The rat looked around to be introduced to a heavy steel metal pipe. Blood and chunks of his teeth flew out as his seemingly new glasses were shattered to a million onyx-like pieces. Rachel had knocked the criminal out cold. The multicolor-haired girl was even surprised herself that she had knocked out a man that was twice her size and age. "No one hurts my little bro but ME!" she yelled loud at the unresponsive criminal as she gave the rodent another whack from her metal pipe. She looked back at Tobias, who was clinched to a crate. "Missed me?" She was met with a hug that her brother had never ever given her before. Back in the past, she would've destroyed him if he ever did, but now she felt warm inside.

"Ho-ho-li-ly ca-crap, s-s-s-sis! T-Th-a-nks a-a b-b-b-bunch-ch!" he stuttered nervously as Rachel could feel his body shaking. Darwin also came up and hugged the older girl as her warmth doubled.

"Yeah Rachel, it would've been quits for us." He chirped as he quickly got his trademark smile on his face. Penny then met up with the group as she hugged Rachel, who embraced her back.

"Wow, I didn't expect a rescue attempt from you."

"Eh, it's an emergency."

"Thanks."

"No prob." Their little victory celebration didn't last long as the henchman on the ground began to wake up, groaning in pain. Rachel, Penny, Darwin and Tobias made a run upstairs to escape this horribly gone wrong investigation. Meanwhile, upstairs, the brown rat that was being spied on by Morrison, went downstairs with a grunt as gunshots were echoing from the lowest floor. Morrison could only pray that the kids aren't hurt. Once the skinny rat was out of view, Morrison whipped out his revolver as he followed the criminal.

Meanwhile, Jamie, the yellowish female buffalo, couldn't help but stay uneasy in the car. The only sound was the heavy rain tapping on her friend's parents' car. She could her muffled sounds of banging noises which made her tremble a bit. She refused to go with Rachel, which his why she still stayed behind. She felt bad, thinking Rachel would be in big trouble now. "What's taking her so long?" she whispered angrily as she slammed her short legs impatiently. She then grabbed her own metal weapon. The curiosity was killing her, so she ran out the car, and inside the building to attempt a rescue mission. However, that plan didn't get to start because as soon as she opened the door, she met with a gun wielding criminal. Phil saw the girl as he quickly pointed the gun towards her.

"YOU, STOP!" Screamed Phil as he kept a close eye. Jamie released the metal bar from her hands as he knelt down, pleading for her life.

"No, don't kill me, not now please, no-no-no-" The rat quickly pointed the gun down to the ground as he tilted his head and butted in.

"You again?" He said

"Wha-?"

"You were with that chick who crashed into my car!" Jamie began to widen her eyes as the rat was exactly the one who she had met yesterday. The memory was still fresh as the teen holstered his gun.

"Sorry, look I was looking for a friend! Don't shoot me!" She cried as she waved her hands in front of her.

"Friend? You mean intruder? You're not supposed to be here!"

"Sorry, I didn't know!"

"Remember last time?" Jamie shook her head as she looked desperately for a route to escape. "I said if I ever see you again, I will kill you. A promise is a promise. Prepare to-" The teenage rat quickly dropped to the ground as a shot was fired from the stairs leading to the upper floor. His shoulder was hit by a bullet from up the stairs.

"DON'T YOU DARE HURT HER!" screamed the dog as he fired rounds at the boy threatening the little girl. The rat quickly dropped his gun as he ran out the door just behind Jamie, allowing a much faster escape route. He ran to his truck, bleeding on his left shoulder. His purple comrade quickly slammed the door next to him as he was bleeding out the nose.

"What happened?" asked Phil as he was about to accelerate. His foot was pushed away as the fatter rat quickly searched inside the glove box.

"Hold on Phil! I got a present for them!"He quickly grabbed a grenade from the glove box as he looked behind and removed the pin and tossed it under Rachel's Parent's car. "C'mon kid, let's get outta here!" he yelled as the assistant swerved the heavy but half empty truck away from the building. The explosion suddenly turned the cold rainy day hot as the fat rat gasped for air. Jamie flew back as the wave from the explosion sent out pieces of metal to fly around. The sound was ear-blasting, but in the end, the sound of metal pieces rained down.

"SHIT!" screamed Rachel as she stared out the door, revealing a metal frame that used to be a drivable vehicle. Morrison helped Jamie up as she was bleeding on her arm. Penny rubed her wrist as the band she wore was cut. It fell on the ground, without the horned nut to take notice. "No, what am I gonna do! Mom and Dad are gonna kill me so bad after this!" Rachel continued as she held her head up high. Tobias looked at her dismayed sister as he suddenly smiled.

"Sis, why not stay with us?"

"What?"

"We got plenty of room in our RV, wanna come with us?"

"Uhh…" Rachel looked at the shady looking character that was once in her house.

"Is that alright Mister Morrison?" asked Tobias as he looked behind at the dog.

"Of course it is." He replied back with a smile.

"Really?" Rachel said as her hands released her hair.

"Yes Rachel. You help us, we help you back."

"Wow, thanks!" Rachel said as she embraced the canine. The group then quickly jogged back at the only vehicle left in the area. Once there, Morrison started the engine and pointed at Penny, who was standing right next to a phone.

"Alright, call the cops. Now let's get out of here!" Penny gave a nod as she dialed for 911. The group quickly made an escape. On the way, Penny cleaned up and patched Jamie's wound as Rachel was suddenly saddened by looking at the canine's briefcase, full of evidence. She looked at the two boys, who looked at the papers with great insight. She made her way to the back and took a seat on one of the beds, giving out a sigh of disappointment. Immediately, her brother and Darwin came up to her.

"What's the matter sis?"

"Oh nothing…"

"Nothing? You look like you just got sick!"

"It's just that…You guys have been finding out stuff about the school explosion, and you've all been on Gumball's side…"

"Yeah, so?"

"It's just that I wished I could've helped you guys…"

"There's plenty of time Rachel! You can join in our investigation group!" chirpped Darwin as he gave a smile. Rachel looked at his face as she too gave out a smile.

"Thanks guys…"

"Look, I know there's still something in your mind. And it's not Dad's car either." Rachel bit her lip and gave a sigh as she rested her head on her fists.

"Okay…I wanted to help you after I found that video back in your room Tobias."

"Oh that? Yeah I was meant to leave it there for you to check it out. Where is it now?"

"That's the problem…"

"What?"

"See, that brown rat back at that building who was about to attack Jamie, he saw us near Darwin's house. Me and Jamie accidentally crashed with his car. He got out angrily and he grabbed the tape from Jamie and destroyed it… It was also before that massive explosion that tore down yesterday." Tobias became wide eyed as Penny and Jamie joined in.

"Yeah…I shouldn't have held it…" said Jamie as she brushed her patched wound.

"No, it's not your fault…" added Penny as she patted the buffalo. All of a sudden, Tobias gave out a chuckle as he opened up a cabinet in the driver's area. Morrison looked at him as he pointed to a drawer that was larger than an ordinary glove box. Tobias then came back, holding a large box. Rachel was slightly irritated as she folded her arms.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh Rachel… You know that evidence is just way too precious?" His sister gave him a skeptical look as she gave a cough. "We of course can't let it sit around unprotected."

"So what do you mean?"

"I got the original right here." Tobias then grabbed a tape, similar to the one Rachel used to see the video. The tape was exact. The dents, the scratches and even the same code on it. "Of course, Penny gave the copy you had the same looks, to make it look real. Rachel gave her little brother a hug and a kiss as she jumped in joy, along with Jamie.

"That's so smart of you! First time ever!" The group cheered on as Tobias grabbed another large bag of snacks. The group seized a bunch of the snack as they munched away. Penny then suddenly gave a quick kiss on Darwin's cheek. He blushed vigorously as he flinched backwards.

"Wha-what was that for?" he stuttered with his mouth full of potato. He rubbed his cheek as Penny gave a giggle.

"Just for being brave out there." Penny answered with a blush. Darwin could only blink rapidly with shock. Rachel and Tobias then laughed out loud as both of them mocked him with the same dialogue.

"Lovers in paradise! Lovers in paradise!" both said the multicolored kids in unison as they laughed. Jamie also laughed as she fell off her chair, spilling the soda on herself. The laugh at the fish then turned to the buffalo as she groaned in pain. Everyone laughed as Morrison also joined in the laugh frenzy.

"I feel so young again…" he chuckled as he focused on the road again. Back at the warehouse, the building instantly became empty but soon enough; the cops arrived to secure the area. However, the cops aren't the only ones to arrive at the premises.

"Something has happened here." Carrie said as she looked around. Gumball stared at the scene with a lack of emotion. The girl ignored his eerie change of personality as she floated in the building. "Something… something hot happened here…" Carrie then noticed a burnt car outside in the alleyway. The smoke again gave her the flashback, but she easily ignored it. Gumball followed her, not because he wanted to, but because his reflex just made him do it without thinking about it. As the two ghosts looked around, they found an orange item on the ground next to some crates, just next to the door which showed the burnt car. Gumball began to receive signals to form an emotion. The ghost stared at the boy floating downwards to the item. Gumball looked at it with great insight. The item was orange and white. There was a cut on it and a blotch of blood.

"Penny?" whispered the feline specter. Carrie looked around as she saw a blood splatter on a crate. Gumball also stared at the patch as he suddenly heard a voice.

"_HELP ME GUMBALL!"_

"PENNY? I'M COMING!" Carrie didn't hear the voice but she looked at Gumball, who was feeling an unknown uneasiness. "WE NEED TO LOOK FOR HER!" screamed violently Gumball as he finally began to use his knowledge and memory to find out where the girl was. His first instinct was that either Penny was kidnapped or killed. He quickly went outside to the paramedics, and stared inside. No one. He removed the probability that Penny was hurt or dead. Kidnap was now in his mind as he quickly rushed to Penny's house. Carrie could only follow his movements as she knew that the only real way to find Penny was to trace her energy. The two didn't know that Penny was safe and sound…

Meanwhile back at the church, a group of cops visited the Watterson family. Nicole answered the door as she looked at the donut cops. Richard at the back looked at them as he hid the gun that detective Hunter had given him.

"Hello Miss Watterson." greeted one of the cops to the blue cat.

"Hello officer." she greeted back with a held back yawn.

"We need to inform you that your house and the rest of the street your house was in-"

"What?" screamed Nicole as she quickly opened her eyes.

"Your house and the surrounding street was destroyed yesterday in what we believe a bombing act." Nicole could only tremble as she knelt on the floor. She was then helped up by Penny's father.

"Nicole, I'm sorry about what happened yesterday." the large peanut said as he placed a hand on her. Richard came to them as he helped her sit down.

"Why is this happening to me…" she wept as her whole life was beginning to crumble. Her oldest child killed himself, her adopted son was somewhere else and God knows what had happened to him, and now her home was gone. She felt like the world was punishing her for what she had believed to make Gumball do. Penny's father stood up and looked at Gumball's remains, which was now beginning to lose color drastically.

"I know tomorrow will be the day we will bury him…" Nicole also walked to him, as she hugged her son's casket. "And I know you'll need a place to stay."

"Yeah…" said Nicole weakly.

"But we can help you. You can stay in our house for the time being, until we find a new place for you guys…"

"Thanks…but-"

"No buts Nicole. We are here to help you all the way trough this painful time…" he snapped calmly as visitors came in. Nicole gave them hugs and handshakes as she walked back to the cops.

"Thanks for telling me officers…is there anything else you can do for us?"

"Of course mam. We believe a criminal linked to your son's death is trying to kill you." Nicole gulped down hard on that statement. "So we have a few officers to guard you until we capture the criminal who caused the bombing, as well as those who were involved in it." The cop then gave a gesture to a few crocodiles in armored vests, carrying shotguns. Nicole was kind of threatened by them, but she knew that these guys were going to protect her. The donut cops waved goodbye as the new guards waited outside. Nicole gave them handshakes.

"Thank you so much for volunteering to help us."

"It's no problem mam. We are here to protect you. We feel that things will get worse mam. But please relax. We shall guard you until our threat dies away."

"Thank you so much." At that, Nicole got back in and sat with her husband. Anais then woke up as she sat with her parents.

"I wonder how Darwin's doing…" the little girl said. Nicole gave a sigh as she placed her hand on her daughter's.

"I know your brother is helping out with this… I hope he's okay…"

"I'm sure he is honey. After all, I taught him to be a man!" chuckled Richard as Nicole gave a quick giggle.

Meanwhile, Gumball was shouting in anger as she looked everywhere in Elmore. He had already visited Penny's home, but she wasn't there. He didn't loose hope as he was desperate to find his girlfriend. Carrie gave him a glance before following him. Carrie wanted Gumball to listen to her, but of course, he would rage out again, and the girl wasn't ready to face that pain once again. She could only follow the boy, hoping that someday that he'll finally agree to help himself…

* * *

><p><em>A.N. – Ah, a good chapter? I don't know, you tell me! (lol). Anyways, what's gonna happen when Gumball finds out about our little relationship here? And also, can those guards really protect our remaining Wattersons? Next chapter will be lots of emotions. Final goodbyes to Gumball's remains…<em>


	7. READ ME

Hello everyone.

I'm in the middle of heavy depression, and I cannot write.

Please bear with me...when I'm recovered, I'll write again.

That's all.


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